


79,200 Minutes

by AredandNoirbutterfly



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Action, Angst, Chronophobia, F/M, I'm sorry for the slow build up seriously, I'm sorry for this whole fic TBH, Mentions of Mental Illness, Violence, cursing, idk if this counts as AU TBH, long story, nah bro, slow build up, sort of, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 41,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8129843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AredandNoirbutterfly/pseuds/AredandNoirbutterfly
Summary: There's no such thing as coincidence. (That's it. That's the story. Let's go home everyone.)(Might as well make a better summary....)_______________________________When Akira (Reader) encounters a random phone on the train, the eerily familiar scenario unwinds to the realization that maybe some fantasies actually exist out there. Slow Chapters with lots of dialogue and bad descriptions of anything else. OOC behavior for the sake of this story. Freeform.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story for my friend. I borrowed her nick and that's it. I haven't finished playing MM yet but I'm in love with Luciel and this has been bothering me alot so HERE IT IS. FOR YOU BABBBEEEEEEE andidkIfI'mgonnacontinuethisbecauseIwasjustachingtogetthispartoutI'mnotsureyet

 

I guess some people might call this ironic.

Sitting down in a class about Philosophy, the professor going on and on about the difference between determinism and coincidence, of fantasy versus reality, what is real and what is not real. The idea that the moment you're currently in has been pre-ordained; that it was meant to happen in this very moment in life; that there is nothing you can do because everything you've lived, everything you have experienced up to this moment has led to this very moment.

 

And yet, instead of living in reality, I chose to sit here playing an otome game in the middle of class.

Yes, I'm not the greatest student in the world, but it's difficult to play Mystic Messenger and do well in school.

Even though, I've played this game so many times already, there's something intriguing about it. It's as if the characters in it were able to show you a glimpse into a reality that doesn't exist. It's interesting to think about it. I'm all about interesting.

"Akira, are you paying attention?"

My arm, which I was using as a comfortable chin rest, snapped to the side at the mention of my name, almost making me collapse into the desk. I look up to the expecting and scolding eyes of my professor.

"Yes, I am sir." I say, politely, standing up a bit straighter. He grunts in annoyance, a stress ball in his hand.

"If it's not too much trouble for you, would you mind putting the volume down? Either that or perhaps try and reconsider whether you really want to be in this class before tomorrow, so you can play your little game at home, am I making myself clear?"

I hear giggles and snorts, my face flaming up entirely.  
I forgot to put the volume down on the game...........................................

Mortified, I mutter a final apology before turning off my phone altogether and packing my things away. Class was almost over so I might as well head out, I thought to myself. Silently standing up while the Professors back was turned and quickly made my way outside.

I'm Akira, a college student who's studying to become a Veterinary Technician, and though I usually succeed in my passions, sometimes I can be a little distracted. I love to fantasize about the alternatives, the what if's the works. It comes off as snobbish to some people, but in general, alot of my friends have at least decent opinions about me as a person. I guess they like my somewhat brutal, sassy and honest personality.

Also Black. I love wearing black.

I put my headphones on and head towards the train station. Though I have a car of my own, I love sitting down by the window and watching the city pass by in the train, so I try to take it from time to time, save the environment, save money on gas, that sort of thing. Los Angeles is a difficult city to love at some points, but what we don't have we make up for in personality. As we make our way in hopes of beating the afternoon rush, I aim towards a window sit only to see the majority of the seats be taken on a first come first serve basis, leaving me to scramble around for a seat.

I sigh seeing the best seats taken.

Can this day get any worse?

As a group of people stand up from the disabled passengers section, I take cautious steps towards the available seats left behind, sitting down with a plop in exhaustion. I was just about to make myself more comfortable when I notice there's a phone in the empty seat next to me. I blink once and quickly grab it, turning around towards the passengers who have just made their way out, wondering if by some miraculous action I manage to remember who was sitting in this seat in hopes of returning this but it's futile.

"Stand clear, the doors are closing" is heard from the speakers in the train and I panic, already having been in a semi standing position in my seat as I surveyed through the crowd, watching it slowly pass by as the train starts to move. Taking my seat fully, I look at the phone, silently hoping I won't be acused of stealing it. tattoos, piercings and colorful hair are usually good ways to make society see you as nothing more than a troublesome thug, after all.

I turn the phone properly and turn on the screen, the generic Android model menu coming to life, a lifeless wallpaper as it's background. I scroll through the emergency section hoping there's someones name, a number or something. Usually I would immediately give it to the Lost and Found, but seeing myself in the train, I was in no position of doing that. I turned off the screen and set the phone in my hand upside down. Maybe the owners will be smart and locate the phone easily by calling. Technology is easy to track after all.

Suddenly, I felt the phone vibrate in my hands,

I smirked silently patting myself in the back for being able to guess the circumstances. Flipping it around, I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"  
_"Yes Hello"_  
"Hi. I'm assuming this is your phone."

" _It's not my phone actually but I know who's phone it belongs to! Thank you so much for picking up! I've been looking for it for a few hours!_ "

I smiled at the relieved voice on the other side.  
"No problem at all. I would like someone to help me locate my phone too if I ever lost it."  
" _Haha youre very kind, not everyones this nice._ "  
"So what do I do? Should I just drop it off at the Metro Lost and Found? I'm sure they'll keep it safe for you."  
" _Actually, would you mind taking it to my apartment? I'm unable to come. Where are you?_ "

Baffled, I looked above at the station stops. The nerve some people have. Is he serious?????  
"Purple line, I'm near DTLA, around Korea Town area I think?"  
" _Ah that's great. My friends place is in the apartment complex in Wilshire station. If it's not too much trouble, would you mind dropping off the phone?_ "

I froze in place.

He couldn't be serious.  
"Wouldn't it be strange for a random person to show up to your apartment though?"  
" _I swear, if I could, I'd go and get her phone but I can't, I'm supposed to be in a meeting. Please. I promise I'll compensate you for the troubles._ "  
I bit my lip, annoyed. Why am I always stuck with this sort of strange luck? Is it bad luck? Maybe. Possibly. Definitely.

"I don't know..." I said mostly to myself. It might be dangerous, I don't know what kind of person or people these are. If anything, movies have  
traumatized me to what strangers want or do.  
" _I promise you I'm not someone weird or dangerous, and neither is my friend._ " the voice said on the other end, as if reading my mind.  
_'Yeah that's what they say in the movies too.....'_ I thought to myself.

" _Here I'll send you the phone lock combination and I'll send you a little video of myself so you won't be suspicious._ " the voice said, at cue the  
message sound ringing. I checked and there was a video of a really attractive guy with black hair and green eyes, saying _"See? I'm not_  
_suspicious, please I'd really appreciate this favor._ "

I grunted to myself. Ugh the things I do to not be an asshole.

"Alright, but if I see anything suspicious I'm leaving the phone at the door and just leaving I don't care."

" _That's fine! Thank you, really thank you so much!_ " the voice said with glee and hung up, resuming to thank me by text message as well as  
sending me an address. I put the phone in my bag and grunted out loud, not caring whether anyone reacted to my frustrations. Really? There's  
people in this world who are like this? Literally making a complete stranger go to a persons place without a care in the world? If it were me, I  
would just call the company and report the phone stolen or lost, like most normal human beings. I ran my hands through my face, lifting my  
glasses up and tiredly rubbing away the tears of exhaustion. This long and unlucky day has just gotten longer, and apparently, unluckier. My  
sister would definitely have a field day, as she does with so many of my adventures. I've been told more than once that I shouldn't let people  
take advantage of me but it's so difficult for me to see someone struggle and just watch as they struggle. I can't just sit there.

"....Followed by, Wilshire station." I hear, announcing the stop I hadn't planned on going to. I gathered my things quickly, still annoyed at what I  
volunteered to do, feeling like an idiot for doing so in the end. I walked towards the stairs looking around suspiciously. You have to be cautious  
and trust no one, especially when you don't even know what the hell kind of mess you got yourself into. As I took the exit towards the street, I  
glanced up at the building in question. The phone beeped in my pocket, so I took it out and looked through it.

" _Sorry to bother you. Have you arrived?_ " it said. It almost creeped me out that they would message at this very moment. But I tried to logically  
think that the last message received was 20 minutes ago and I guess it was easy to estimate.

Just as I thought that, the phone rang. I picked up and just said my answer.  
"I'm just outside." I said, and was silent for a second before I continued, "I'm sorry. I'm not comfortable about this situation. I'm just going to leave the phone with the buildings front office. I really have to go." I said truthfully. They already made me do so much, they had no right to refuse.

I, of course, was wrong about that.  
" _No, please! Please don't do that. It's a very important phone, I promise I wouldn't ask you to take it personally if it wasn't._ "  
"Are you serious?"  
" _Like I said before, I promise you I'll compensate the trouble. I just really need to get it there safely. Please?_ "  
What the hell is the big deal with this phone???!? I sighed, placing the phone away from my face.  
"Ok. Ok. But as I said--"  
" _Yes, of course I ask for nothing more than just to have it safely in the apartment. I'll leave you alone after I'm sure it's safe inside._ "  
"Ok......" I said, making my way towards the building, doing as instructed and eventually leading up to the door.

Maybe I should've thought about it more.  
Maybe I should've questioned myself a little more about the situation.  
Maybe if I hadn't been so fixated on getting home, I would've thought about it much more clearly, about how familiar this scenario was.

" _Ok, here's the passcode. Please, place the phone by the computer and that's it. Again, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you._ " I heard the  
voice say to me.

Using the passcode, I felt a pang headache, thinking of all the things I could do once I arrived home after this stressful day. I walked in to the  
empty apartment and looked around. It was plain and minimal, a bed, a desk, large windows, papers neatly arranged everywhere.

I saw the desk with the computer in question and walked over to it, taking the phone from my hand and trying to turn on the screen in order to  
call the person who kept calling, only to find that the phone was completely dead.

That's weird, I quickly recalled the battery was at over 80 percent.

Suddenly feeling a wave of panic, I looked around at the place and felt the need to get out of there. I placed the phone by the computer and  
walked towards the door, turning the knob only to come to the horrifying realiztion of one thing.

 _Maybe there's a moment in life where we end up wondering how, why we ended up in a certain situation, but determinism tells us it was meant_  
_to happen. That this very moment was supposed to happen at this exact time in the universe...."_

The door was locked shut.


	2. Electric.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh noes, what ever shall it beeeee?? I'm sorry for the grammatics. I can't type. I can't write well. I also don't have time to proofread properly. Typos everywhere. Repetitive language etc. I'm sorry. I'm sorry this is garbage.

My breath hitched in panic at the situation, looking around at the empty place.

Ok. Ok I can think of something.  
I took out my phone and decided to call 911. It was the easiest solution at the current moment. This seemed like kidnap, I'm sure they'd understand. I groaned in frustration looking at my phone to realize it was also entirely dead, even though it was at least at 74 percent battery while on the train. I recalled my music stopped playing the second I entered this place. What in the world was happening?

I didn't leave myself time to think about it. I couldn't just let myself be stuck in here. I walked over to the desk and looked around, hoping to find keys, a screwdriver, a pen, anything really. I grabbed a card in the drawer and attempted to open the door with it, only to have a weird beeping sound come from the two way lock. I thought about it and maybe I was exagerating and I should just enter the same password I was given to enter it. I might've just panicked for nothing. Trying it, my heart sunk once more at realizing it didn't work, another strange sound emitting from the electric lock.

What do I do?

I looked around the place. There was a phone by the bed, so I picked it up to find a dead line. This was like a dead zone, it appeared that it killed phones, signals, and apparently also batteries. That was not a good sign. I walked over to the kitchen hoping there was another phone there but there was none. My heart was pounding heavily in my chest at the situation. Not only was I unable to get out of this place, but I also couldn't even call for help.

What am I seriously supposed to do?

In the movies, this is the moment where the perpretator of this plot shows up, solo or with a band of thugs, and laughs, telling it's victim the devious plan they've created, laughing evilly, I'm not sure, a blind fold and rope to add to it's dramatics. But finding myself in the empty place, I couldn't help but wonder................ was this worse?

I didn't sit still at all, forgetting the time, trying to find any way out. I realized it was dramatic but if it came to it, I'd break the window and just scream for help. They can cut my phone and all the connections but they couldn't cut off my voice. As I came to the realization that everything I had tried and tried again was to no avail, I looked around for something heavy. I was determined to make a dramatic signal to have someone, ANYONE come and open the damn door. Just as I was close to throwing the heavy desk tape dispenser, my phone suddenly beeped, making me halt my movements to stare at it. I had left it in the desk in frustration.

How did it turn back on.

I walked cautiously towards it, afraid of what's happening.

Looking through the screen, I saw numeric green code go through it. I pondered. Apple had always prided themselves in security and this was most obviously some sort of weird hack  
"Great......" I said outloud. The apple turned bright green as it loaded my phone up in the sammer manner an update usually does. On the upside, my phone seemed to be on. On the downside, it was most obviously hacked. I stared at it until it stopped loading the green code. A big bright 7 appeared in bright red before the screen turned black again. I grabbed it quickly hoping to see it come on, my heart rejoicing when it did. I was about to press call button when i realize all my applications had disappeared except for one with the title of VOLKANIKA. I didn't know what that was, so obviously it had to do with whatever was happening. I pondered what it could be and whether I should click it. I realized at this point there was no point in asking questions, taking the phone and sitting on the chair instead of doing the smart thing and calling for help. I'm  
an idiot, obviously.

I clicked on the app and it loaded up, an upside Volcano for a V in it's logo and a butterfly fluttering, showing it was loading.

What loaded up was a familiar, yet slightly different, menu: A chatroom, a phone button, a small envelope. mails, pictures, guests.

It was nearly identical to the Mystic Messenger menu.

What in the fuck is going on????????

I loaded the chatroom. What else could I do.

In it, I saw the familiar scene of conversations, a million questions going through my head.

[  _ **Jaehee Kang:** Mr. Han there's an important meeting soon. Is it really important to take Elizabeth 3rd to get groomed? _  
_**Jumin Han** : Elizabeth 3rd's grooming is essential. Of course it's important. _  
_**Jaehee Kang** :....... _  
_**Jaehee Kang** :...... Please go to the meeting. _  
_**Jumin Han** : I'll have the driver drop me off right after she's ready. Let the associates know I had important business to attend to and will be late._  
_**Jaehee Kang** : *sigh* You know it makes it difficult for me...... _  
_**707:** lolololol poor Jaehee. _  
_**Yoosung ★** : Jumin hyung you're ruthless lolol _]   
  
I stared horrified at the screen, this familiar conversation playing out before me. It was just the game. It was just like the game in my phone  
previously. There was nothing that showed otherwise.

Was this some sort of practical joke? Was there something out there deliberately fuckin with me at the moment? I tried exiting the app by  
pressing the home button and found it difficult to do so, a warning flashing in the screen asking me if I'm sure.

[ _**707:** ?!?!?!?!?!?! _  
_**Yoosung ★:** ?? _  
_**Jumin Han** : Who's that? _  
_**707:** There's someone here who shouldn't be........._  
_**Jaehee Kang:** Are you serious? How is that possible? _  
_**Jumin Han:** Luciel I thought this was a secure application._  
_**707** : It is! I don't know what's happening?????????_  
_**Yoosung ★:** Who are you, Unknown????? How did you find this app? _ ]

It was exactly the same as Day 0 in the game. Suddenly realizing how similar this scenario was I shrieked. What the fuck.  
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck????  
This had to be a dream. Or more admittedly a nightmare.

[ _ **Jumin Han:** I suggest you reveal yourself before I take drastic measures. Invasion of privacy is a very serious thing. _  
_**Jaehee Kang** : Luciel, what are you waiting for? Stop their connection. Aren't you a great hacker? _  
_**707** : I am! I'm trying as we speak! _  
_**707** : ............. wait why did you say it like that? Of course I'm a great hacker T___T _  
_**Yoosung ★** : Maybe it's a bot? _  
_**707:** Doubt it. I set up a really strong fire wall to keep the app hidden. _  
_**707:** unless.......... _  
**_Yoosung ★: ???????????????????_**  
_**Jumin Han:** You've done something incredibly moronic, haven't you Luciel? _  
_**Jaehee Kang:** ? _  
_**707** : Unknown! _  
_**707** : Who are you? How did you end up in Rikas apartment???_ ]

I stared at the screen, waiting for the automated answers to pop up. But they didn't. What was I supposed to say?

Maybe this was a more advanced version of the game? Where you could formulate the answer yourself? I tried comforting myself. I mean what else was I supposed to think? 

I typed in the chatroom, amazed at the update, momentarily making me forget that I needed to get out of here. I gave the answer I'm sure would've been formulated in the game. Had to make it easy for the machines to talk back, I guess. I snorted. This was insane. Here I was most likely kidnapped, or well trapped, and I was playing this game. I made a mental note to stop playing otome games.

[ _**Unknown** : I found this phone in the train and a person led me here. What's happening? _  
_**Yoosung ★** : !!!!!!!!!!! _  
_**Jumin Han** : So you just decided to follow what they say? You must be very naive. _  
_**707** : Really??? That's not possible, Rikas phone doesn't work anymore. The service was cut off. What model is it? _  
_**Unknown:** It's a Samsung Galaxy, Silver._ ]

 _'Wow. The conversations are really realistic in this update_ ,' I thought to myself.

[ _ **Jaehee Kang:** That's not Rikas phone. She had an LG Chocolate BI40. _  
_**Jumin Han** : You have exceptional memory Assistant Kang. _  
_**Jaehee kang:** Thank you, Mr. Han. _  
_**Yoosung ★** : What are you gonna do Seven?_ ]

I raised a brow. That was strangely specific. I decided to play along and just speak like I normally would, maybe it would be enough to glitch the system.

[ _ **Unknown:** I don't know. I was just doing someone a favor and I was led here. He told me to come drop off the phone at this exact spot and I did, _  
_doing what he told me. [Screen shot One] [Screen shot Two]._  
_**Unknown:** How do I get out of here? _  
_**Jumin Han** : That's very, very strange._  
_**Jaehee Kang** : It is indeed a very curious incident._  
_**Yoosung ★** : Seven???? Helllooooo???? _  
_**Jumin Han** : He's probably looking up a solution right now. _  
_**Jaehee Kang** : Ah. That makes sense. _  
_**Yoosung ★** : Ahhhh~ what do we do in the mean time? Stop talking? _  
_**Jumin Han** : That would be a good idea. _  
_**707:** This person is most definitely in the apartment. _  
_**Yoosung ★** : O_O Trespasser! Get out of my cousins apartment!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:O _  
_**Jumin Han:** Did you trace them? _  
_**707:** Yep. _  
_**Jumin Han:** Good. Call the police._ ]

I stared at the screen.

Call the police?

[ _**707:** No. They wouldn't know what to do. Besides it would be dangerous. _  
_**Unknown:** What am I supposed to do here? _  
_**707** : Well....... it appears as if you were led there on purpose. _  
_**Unknown:** Please, just let me get out of here? _  
_**707** : Sorry but you by yourself can do nothing. As a matter of fact, don't even touch anything._ ]

There were so many questions all of a sudden.

Why did this conversation seem so realisitc?  
Was this really just a game?  
Did they upgrade to have live people talking to you as you play it?  
There had to be an explanation to why this was scary realistic. There's no way.

[ _**Jumin Han** : I think it would be best for you to check out the situation, Luciel. You're the only one that has access to the security at the _  
_apartment afterall._  
_**Jaehee Kang:** What if it's dangerous? We don't know what individual this person is. _  
_**Yoosung ★** : yeah what if they're dangerous. _  
_Yoosung ★: I'll go! It's Rika's apartment after all!_  
_**707:** Nope. That's classified. _  
_**707:** I'll figure out what happened _  
_[707 has exited the chat.]_  
_**Yoosung ★:** It's best if you stay put, creep, you won't be able to escape!  >:)_ ]

I panicked at the last sentence.  
It couldn't be right? This was all just a game. I shouldn't be afraid of words and threats from an automated machine, a pre-ordained answer that's supposed to happen. Right? 

I closed the app and attempted to use my phone to call 911 before this did....or whatever was supposed to happen automatically. 

It suddenly became really confusing. Was I even awake?  
This couldn't possibly be a real situation that's happening, right? I mean.... how?

I looked around. I recall the movie inception, silently cursing myself for always referencing movies as a source of weird happenings in my life. Maybe this was just a very realistic dream? I mean it would make sense if it was. Maybe I fell asleep in class and I just fell into a very realistic dream. I stood up and walked around a bit, setting the phone in the desk again. It looked pretty realistic for a dream. I pinched myself in order to mimic the "kick" to jolt me awake. But when I opened my eyes, I was still here. I was still stuck and nothing changed. I ran my hands through my face. Should I attempt to escape? It doesn't look too good to be here.

I heard sirens in the distance, turning towards the window. Oh my god they were on their way here!  
A surge of panic went through me as i went to the window, seeing the flashing lights of the ambulence and fire truck in the street below, seeing as they drove by quickly towards their destination, a destination that was not here from the looks of it. I sighed in relief, but the stress and anxiety were getting to me, my chest slightly constricting. This couldn't be a dream. This was most definitely a nightmare. Unsure of what to do with myself, I paced and waited for whatever was supposed to happen, to happen. What could be worse? Maybe it would definitely be better for the police to show up. I could explain what happened and though suspicious, I was sincere, I had nothing to hide.

I wasn't sure how much time passed by, the sky dark outside, the clock signaling 10pm, it's ticking being the only sound in the silent room. If I hadn't seen lots of people outside, the many parked cars as well, I could've sworn no one lived in this building at all. My mind wondered home again. My family must be worried. I at least give them a call if I'm going to be late arriving home but I couldn't. My eyes stung from unshed tears.

What do I do?

Suddenly I heard steps outside. It was so silent, I couldn't believe I could hear them. They seemed to approach cautiously. This was my chance. I ran towards the door quickly. I could beg and scream for help. This was the only other sound I had heard in a few hours after all. I banged the door trying to get the attention of whoever was outside.

"Please! Please, whoever is out there! I'm stuck in here! Please help me!" I said loudly, hoping that the desperation in my voice was enough to urge them  
to help, but not enough to make them run away.

When there was no answer, I tried again.  
"Please I know you're there, I'm just a girl, I swear I'm not dangerous! I'm just trying to get home to my family, please, for the love of god, help me, I beg you!" I begged again, my voice cracking. There was still no answer and I banged again, defeatedly placing my head in the door, my throat constricting from holding back my sobs.

Why are people so cruel? Then again, if people try to be or do something nice, I guess this is what happens to them. 

"Please, please--"  
"Ah. Hold on a moment, jeez." I heard a muffled voice say. My face brightened.  
"Please, I swear, I was just--"  
"Step away from the door."  
"What?" I replied back. Huh?  
"I can't open the door if you're in the way." it said to me. It was a males voice, too, I realized. I should be more cautious once I was out of there. i can never trust men again after this I think.   
"Are you the person who sent me here?" I asked. It was a stupid question considering but it had to be asked anyway.   
"Are you away from the door now? It's not safe to talk about this like this." it said to me.

I backed up slightly, making enough space between myself and the door for it to open if it could. My heart thumped away, sensing freedom near. I heard the familiar beeping in the door, a bright green light replacing the red one indicating it had been locked. I licked my lips.

Freedom.

Freedom.

I mean, I wasn't stuck here for days or anything, but those few hours stuck in this unfamiliar place were absolute hell for anxious people.

I was not mentally prepared for what walked through the door. I'm the queen of denial. I'm the queen of questioning and searching for logic. I'm the one that has questioned this and other realities endlessly. Yet, I found absolutely no logic to explain how, why, this appeared in front of me.

There he stood, bright earphones around his neck, a black and yellow hooded jacket, that familiar messy red hair, those trademark glasses, the shiny cross on his neck.

Either it was a REALLY good cosplayer, or this was no one other than Seven, Luciel Choi at the door.

"So you're our intruder eh?" he smiled cockily.

I was on the verge of passing out as I stared at him. How can this be? How is this fuckin possible?????

What the fuck kind of sick joke is this?!?!

"You can't escape now."


	3. When I close my eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we are all in denial. Denial is what makes things real and unreal ya'll. I have to hand it to my character though. This girl will question anything in life. (Lots of bad grammar, short, pointless, etc etc. Please if you hate it, don't leave me hate, I swear this is all not serious!!!)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have something you've wanted for so long, something that seems impossible, unattainable, _unreal_ , to come true?

Have you ever wondered what you would do if it was presented to you?

I have. Which is the reason why my reaction to Seven was something I didn't expect happening.  
I imagined if there was such a chance as to see or realize Seven ever being a real person, I would be so happy, I would be so filled with hope that maybe dreams really do come true. That I would stare at him in disbelief, maybe venture to touch his face in attempts to see if it was just a dream, or reality. Pathetic to some, maybe, but when you're bored, like I am, fantasy is so much better. Fantasy reminds you to dream bigger and to accept things with an open heart, at least that's what I always told myself. I always expected to embrace something unreal with tranquility.

What I did not expect was to scream so loud and in such a terrifying manner that I wouldn't be surprised at all at the probability of having cracked  
every window in this building.

Luciel visibly flinched at the terrifying sound coming out of my mouth, putting his hands to his ears in attempts to not go deaf, his eyes closed,slightly crouching, a small yelp of 'oh my god' coming out of his mouth as I continued to scream in disbelief.

"Hey! Cut it out! What's wrong with you?!" he said to me as soon as I ran out of breath to continue screaming.

"No. No no no no. No no no no no no no no--" I said, nearly hyperventilating.  
"What's wrong?! Jeez! Calm down!" he said, taking a big step forward. I stepped back instinctively, my heavy shoes making sound.  
"This can't be happening." I said out loud to myself. Exagerating? Maybe so. I was about to scream again when he walked over, closing the proximity between us and saying "No you don't!" as he put his hand over my mouth in order to stop me from destroying hear ear drums.

"If you don't stop screaming, you're gonna make it very difficult for us." he said. Being much, much taller then me, he had no choice but to crouch a bit in order to look straight into my eyes. My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour, my breathing fast. He looked at me questioningly until he deemed me calm enough in order to procceed in talking to me.

"I'm gonna let you go, but you have to promise me you won't scream, ok?" he asked.  
I obviously couldn't formulate a reply and just nodded, visibly afraid but a little more assured. He smiled a bit, surprising me. He let go hesitantly as if I would scream the second his hand left me, his hand pulling away slowly and when he saw I wasn't doing anything but looking at him he sighed in relief.

"Good. Now, let's just get straight to the point. How in the world did you get here? Who are you?" he asked me, his tone serious and accusatory but still calm. My mind was blank entirely. I kept looking at his face, his impossibly perfect face. You know when a 2D character, especially draw in in an eastern style, is drawn to have such a perfect complexion, perfect eye color, perfect complimenting color factors, in an impossible perfect style, you assume no one this perfect could really, truly exist in the flesh, right? What do I say? What is talking? What is anything at the moment. I realized he kept looking at me expectanctly. He scoffed and immediately smirked a cocky and devilish smile. I gulped.

"Fine. If you won't open your mouth then I'll just have to mak-" he started.  
"No! Wait! I'm sorry!" I said beside myself. Normally I wouldn't apologize so quick, especially when I did nothing wrong but...... considering the circumstances.................. I sighed trying to collect myself. This is a dream. This is all just a dream. I said the mantra hoping that maybe it really was true.

  
"My name is Akira. I was on my way home from school when I found this phone," I said, walking over to the desk and grabbing the black phone and turning around, handing it to him, "I was just gonna return it to the Lost and found but when it rang, there was a person who insisted I bring it here and..... I did. He told me it was really, really important and I felt bad if I didn't so I ended up here, stuck..........." I sighed, putting my head down, embarrassed at how childish I sounded. Luciel only looked at me, a hand on his chin, his eyebrows showing he was analyzing the situation at hand.

"The person who you talked to didn't even give you their name?" he asked.  
"No, he just told me it was his friends." I said. His eyes narrowed a bit.  
"It didn't even occur to you to ask who they were? Or why you had to come to a strangers apartment? Are you always this naive? This could've been really dangerous for you, you know." he said crossing his arms. I blushed in utter embarrassment. He was treating me like a child who just took candy from a stranger and was led into their van. And he was right. How could I have been so stupid?  
"No..... I know. I'm an idiot...." I said, shutting my eyes to not show my embarrassment to him. I heard him chuckle a bit so I ventured a look at him. He was rubbing his neck in that familiar manner.

"I guess this really was just a misunderstanding.." He told me, a small smile in his face.  
"You believe me? I really didn't think it would end up like this...." I said to him.  
"Sure, I believe you. You don't have the face of a criminal." He told me calmly, but just as quickly changed his expression to that evil smirk and smile.  
"If you were you wouldn't have done something so..... dumb. And gotten caught." he said mockingly. I blushed a furious shade of red, angry that he was spot on.  
"Thanks for the benefit of the doubt, jerk." I heard myself say, quickly covering my mouth. He just laughed, laughed that familiar laugh. He even sounded like the voice actor. Was this really, really Seven?

Was it really him?  
"Ok, Akira. There's something I need to do before I can tell you it's ok for you to go. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, the person who led you here did this in such a way he left no trail for me to follow except for you." he told me calmly, removing the bag he was carrying with him and walking over to the desk, sitting down. I was still standing and I didn't know what to do with myself. What do I do? I focused on his face again, the movement of his body as he took out a computer from his bag. Should I ask him how is it that he's here? That would mean that I would have to acknowledge that I know who he is. Should I ask for his name? But I already know it. But he doesn't know that I know it already. As he opened his laptop and started typing away quickly, I challenged the situation again, closing my eyes and raising my shoulders, quickly giving myself a big pinch. He realized this and questioningly looked at me.

".............what in the world are you doing??" he asked.  
"I'm trying to wake myself up......" I answered.  
".............. what makes you think you're sleeping?"  
"This isn't possible....."  
"What is?"  
"This..... whole situation."

He laughed even louder if that was possible.  
"You're a very strange girl. I like that! strange is good!" he said to me, an eye smile in his face.  
I looked away trying desperately not to blush.

GOD. HE WAS. SO BEAUTIFUL....................................................

There was a notification sound, making him pick up his phone. Remembering about my own, I grabbed it from the desk and looked through it, wondering if it had gone back to normal. When I realized it hadn't, I wondered. Had he done this? Should I ask him? I couldn't say whether I should disclose I knew things about him. But then I should logically wonder if he really is who I think he is. I didn't even bother to question him either, another sense of shame going through me. Turning to look at him again, I shook my head. It couldn't be anyone else. Right?

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I said. He didn't look up from his phone.  
"What is it?"  
"How did this happen to my phone? It stopped working when I got here and then it turned on again, with only this messenger app here."  
He looked up with pride, his face brightening.  
"Ah! That! That's part of my genius. See, I set up the security in this place, there's a lot of classified information so we need to make sure no one can get to it. So I set up a virus that mimics usage of battery and kills your phone, or any other electronic, momentarily tricking it to believe it's drained. Pretty genius, am I right???" he said. So it was most definitely his fault I couldn't escape.   
".............I almost broke a window here because I couldn't ask for help with my phone... was that part of your plans too, GENIUS??" I said  
crossing my arms. He looked up incredulously at me.  
"Why in the world were you gonna do that?!" he said.  
"Because I couldn't get out of here! Which speaking of, when will that be a possibility?? I can't miss my train!" I said, my voice raised, looking at  
the clock in the wall. It was so late, there was no way I could go home by train now.  
"Ok _FIRST OF ALL_ I set it up for other intruders who came in here who are usually professionals to leave no traces. How in the world was I supposed to know such a violent girl existed in this world, let alone end up here trying to break a window?! And _secondly_! I told you to sit tight! I have to finish this! God, are you like this all the time??? Why are you so agitated??????? You're the one that's a trespasser here."

I don't care how beautiful his face is. I would most definitely kill him.   
I growled, my hands in my face in disbelief. This is the worst day of my life, man.

His phone rang and he picked up, his entire conversation in Korean, so I naturally couldn't understand most, only the occasional "yes" "ah  
really" "hyung." He has a natural poker face when he wants it to be, so I had no clue what that entire thing was about. When it appeared his conversation had ended, he turned to me.

"Well, I have some good news and what I think are some bad news for you, my friend." he said, leg crossed, arms crossed.  
"What is it now?"  
"I just confirmed with two friends of mine and after your background check, our leader has confirmed you're not dangerous, but you are suspicious." he said. The familiar dialogue was unsurprising to me. This meant only two things. In the game, this is where they tell the Main Character you play that she will need to stay in the apartment and continue Rikas work for RFA and that you had to earn their trust while romancing the characters. I mean I could do the former no problem, but I don't think I could do the latter without automated answers. I was obviously forgetting reality, again.

"So............ I can't leave, can I?" I said, defeatedly. Well. I might as well follow along in this video game world. Maybe I fell into the game, like in Digimon where the kids get inexplicably sucked up into the digital world and have to live in it until they find a way back home.

"Huh? No of course you can leave. But I think before you do, you do have to realize that we can't just let you go. You came across our organization so now that you know who we are, you're involved. Which we'll need to evaluate in the next couple of days. Of course, if you wanted to stay here, you could but..... I warn you," he said, standing up, making his hands 'creepy' shaped, "I wouldn't want to stay in a dead woman's apartment." he told me, thinking it would scare me. I guess even in this reality, Rika really is dead.

I looked at him, unafraid.  
"So I can go?"  
He blinked, disappointed.  
"Yes. BUT! I need you to return here tomorrow. Even if you don't, you can't run from me anymore. I know everything about you already. Where you live, where you study, what you do in your spare time." he said.  
"If you're trying to sound like a creeper, you've succeeded. What was the point of you asking my name earlier if you already knew it then?" I  
said to him, reaching for my things.  
"That wasn't the point! And that was a security measure to see if you would lie to my face. But I'm serious. We really need to know you aren't dangerous. Who knows, you might end up becoming one of us. I'll put in a good word for you if you behave." he told me. I looked over at him.  
"Why?"  
"I don't know, you don't seem dangerous to me. And I trust my gut feeling, so..." he was rubbing the back of his neck again. It was so cute. He was so cute. But there were so many buts. And so many maybe's.

Like maybe this was all just a very elaborate facade.  
I thought about it for a few seconds. I've always been bored of reality, I've always been bored of my own life. Maybe this was the worlds way of showing me an adventure.

"Alright. Then if you really are a genius, you'll know how to reach me." I said to him. He smiled at me, that unreadable playful smile.

I placed the bag over my shoulder and walked to the now unlocked door. Just as I was about to step out through the door, freedom finally mine again, he spoke up, a terrifying confirmation.  
"Don't stay up late playing games. Especially games with my face in them." he said to me, his cocky grin evident even in his voice as he spoke.

I froze on spot.

HE KNEW.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm changing things from the game but it had to be done for the sake of my sanity. I mean.... how many of us really would be that dumb and just end up in some weird place for no reason?!?!


	4. Mysterious Lady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slow, Slowwwwwww and possibly the stupidest reason why any character would be a real person tbh.

Thinking of earlier events, it made sense to me. It made perfect sense. I was sitting down on the bed, my legs crossed, my phone in my hand. 

Luciel was still sitting on the desk, his computer on and typing away seemingly in an endless manner. I glanced at the clock several times, this particular time reminding me it was 3:44 am.

I kept glancing back at him.  
Alot changed in the few hours I found myself in his presence.

How did we end up here?

I stopped on spot for what seemed like an eternity at his acknowledgement.  
"I'm sorry?" I muttered. He still had that amused mocking grin plastered on his face.  
"You heard me." he simply said.

Horrified, I denied it. Again, Queen of denial here.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." I simply replied, effectively forgetting I was on my way out. He stopped what he was doing entirely and looked at me, grinning. His hand on his face, resting it on the desk in a leisure manner.

"You're way too easy to read." he said to me.  
I blushed furiously. If there was anything I hated in life more is to be made a fool of. Or mocked. Especially mocked.  
"What's your name?" I asked him finally, my voice sounding more like a command than a question, anger flashing in face at his mocking taunts. It was a necessary question.  
"I'm Saeyoung Choi. Aka Luciel. Aka. 707." he said, introducing himself, making a pistol with his fingers and winking an eye at me.

So I hadn't been wrong and this was definitely Seven.  
Still, you can't be a good Queen without questioning any angle. Cautious is my middle name for a reason. I laughed, loudly, making him drop his smile in confusion.  
"You expect me to believe you? You must be nuts." I said turning to him properly, challenging him with a mocking grin of my own. His eyes looked down right offended.  
"Hey, I gave YOU the benefit of the doubt and you won't give ME that? I guess your background check forgot to mention you not having a heart." he said to me. In any other circumstance that would've been hilarious to me. But at this moment, I felt only offended.

Walking back towards him, I thought I should start asking all the important questions.  
"How do you know I play that game? Was that in the background check too? What kind of sick joke is this all? You must be really bored.." I said, crossing my arms right infront of him. He relaxed, leaning back on his chair, his legs spread comfortably.  
"It wasn't in there but it was obvious from your behavior. You think you're the only person who has seen me and not thought that? I mean, I'm wearing my persona's clothes afterall. I'm always told I make a very realistic Seven cosplayer" He answered me, ignoring my other comments, smiling proudly as if this piece of info was amazing.  
"So you just go around cosplaying yourself??? That's kinda conceited." I said, wondering what to ask next.  
"Hey! It's not cosplay! These are MY clothes! And this is my favorite hoodie, I go no where without it, but I do change clothes! Besides, it's not as if I go outside that much." he answered me.

This was out of hand. If God existed somewhere out there, he was playing a really, really sick and elaborate joke on me, one that involved an actual human being too. And, I said in my head towards the higher powers, _It's not funny_.  
"And you seriously expect me to believe you really are some great secret agent hacker for hire who just so happens to be _THE_ Luciel Choi from a Korean dating simulator game??????? How dumb do you think I am???? Come on now, tell me what your REAL name is and what you're doing with this whole scheme??????"  
He put his hands on his face and made a sound between an an annoyed scoffed and a sigh.  
"My god, how did this conversation end up happening.....?"  
"You're the one that said _'don't stay up too late playing, especially games with my face on them'_ as I was leaving." I said, imitating him, which only made him more mad. Why was he getting so offended? He's the prankster, not the pranked.  
"Hey! I like taking credit for the things I make! This was one of them! Mystic Messenger is one of the few public works I've released!"

He pouted and crossed his arms, looking away like a child.  
From what his words were saying, it appeared that he was letting me know he created the game.  
"What are you saying exactly?" I asked. He looked at me.  
"Look, Mystic Messenger is a joke game I made with my friends. They don't know about it at all though, they would kill me if they found out. Especially Jumin....but it's made me some really good profits so I don't regret it at all." he said.

I wrapped my head around his words.  
SO THAT MEANS THE OTHER CHARACTERS ARE REAL TOO.

_EVEN ZEN._

I nearly choked. Seeing as I didn't say anything, he continued.  
"I was playing around with my friend Yoosung about what things I should do since I'm so great with computers and all. He kept complaining about not having a girlfriend, so I decided to make a little game, nothing serious. Of course, he doesn't know that I actually made it, stole his name and added it to the story, even though he kept asking me about it and---" he lowered his head, mumbling to himself. "Why am I telling you these things? It's not like it matters...." he said.

He seemed so eager to make me believe him that I felt bad for him. I examined his behavior. He didn't seem to be lying. At least from the expression on his eyes.

It seemed like he really was telling the truth.  
"Look, I'm sorry if I'm doubtful. But considering the circumstances you can't blame me though, right?" I told him, relaxing a little bit. He looked up and smiled weakly.  
"For the record, and I'm not even sure why, but you're the only person I've told the truth to about the game. Usually I just ignore people or accept compliments for my cosplay" he said, using his fingers as quotation marks. He continued, "Then again, I never thought we'd end up in the exact same scenario as the story. I was only joking about the whole situation in the game. I honestly never thought some random girl would end up here......." he said sincerely. It was my turn to laugh.

"I guess neither of us expected this to ever really happen." I said.  
"Guess not..." he said, self consciously. Why was he being self conscious?  
Just as quickly as that random doubt in his face had appeared, he quickly recovered, his playful and mischievous face returning.  
"Also, I gotta say, I'm offended as hell that you doubt ME and the validity of MY words, but yet so willingly and trustingly came here through a strangers call. Where the hell's the logic in that?" he said to me, I blushed horribly.  
"I thought I was doing someone a good deed! And they didn't ambush me, threatening me that there was no escape! I told you! I was jus--"  
"Anyway! I know you want to go home, so you can go now if you want. But like I said, you need to be available for me to reach you. I'm serious. It's important." he changed subjects quickly.

Oh yeah, going home...................  
"Well see here lies the problem..." I said, crossing my arms.  
"What?" he said, turning back to his computer.  
"Problem number one: It's already past midnight, so the trains have stopped running..."  
"Is there a number two....?"  
"Well I could always get home by taxi, or uber or lyft, but," I said, taking my phone out, "I only have this one app working so my phone is basically garbage at the moment and I can't even call 911... any way you can fix that? I should at least call my family before they call the U.S Navy....." I said, handing him my phone, which he took.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that....Oops.. hehe.. I'll let you use one of my phones so you can call. I'll fix your phone too but I need time so you're gonna have to wait here for a little while in the end." he told me, putting my phone down next to his computer and turning all his attention towards it.

Which leads us to the moment at hand, me still sitting on the bed, my phone still in my hand, but still useless. I was entirely drowsy at this point.

From time to time I questioned him about what he was doing, but all I got where 'Something important.' and 'Hang on a bit.' as replies.

I kept looking at him as he worked away, still not fully believing what was happening. His hair looked nice and fluffy, a nice shade of red. His natural poker face was something unexpected but also sort of alluring. I caught him glancing at his phone a few times, as if waiting for something to happen. His eyebrows furrowed a bit from time to time as well when nothing did. It was a secret to no one in my actual life that I adored this character. That I've said I wish I could find one just like him in reality. How do I explain this now?

He looked over at me for a second, and seeing me awake, offered a small smile. 

I smiled back. It was such a beautiful sight.

Finally after a few hours of agonizing torture, to my brain, to my mentality, to my body, I made the mistake of laying down on the empty bed, closing my eyes, telling myself it was only for a few seconds until I mistakingly dozed off to sleep. I could've sworn I heard him call my name a few times, but he sounded far away, so I continued to drift off, hoping that when I woke up, this wasn't all just a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire thing was based on the conversation me and my friend, to who I started this fic for, about how I think that maybe Seven might actually just have made the game in reality and just placed himself in it for the hell of it LOL It's not a serious thing, please don't take this seriously! OTL OTL OTL OTL


	5. Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the lameness continues with me and my attempts to make things realistic. I'm sorry it's lame. Lame lame lameeeeeeee If you hate it, please hate it silently, this isn't serious! I'm just a bored girl with nothing to do after work!!!! OTL OTL

I went blind for a couple of seconds when I woke up.

My body felt stiff, an awkward pain on my neck, but otherwise I had slept pretty comfortably. I yawned and glanced up at the ceiling, expecting to see the familiar pattern of my room, taking a glance to the side towards the window, feeling the slight warmth of the sun on my leg as it shined through the window. There were no sounds, only the occasional ones you'd hear from a busy city. I glanced up at the ceiling again.

I asked myself how I ended up here.   
Ah, those few moments of peace before you realize you were in a strangers home.

The wave of memories from the last twenty four hours suddenly brought me back, and I stood up, a sharp gasp escaping my mouth as I realized I had fallen asleep while Luciel had been working a few hours ago.

Luciel.   
Oh my god, I forgot I wasn't here alone.

But when I glanced around to see where he was, he wasn't there. I looked directly at the chair he had sat on.  
Maybe it really was just a dream after all?

No, it couldn't be, I argued to myself. Standing up, I looked around the small apartment, checking for any signs of life apart from myself. But there was nothing, not even a trace that he had been here at all.

Maybe it really was nothing but a dream.....

I sat at the edge of the bed nearest to the chair. It was pretty late in the morning too, around eleven thirty. There was nothing else I could do here, and if I'm not insane, he had told me it was ok for me to go. As I thought about whether or not I could make it to my second class of the day in time, I had to admit I was a little disheartened that he didn't even bother to wake me up to say he was leaving, or even to tell me I should leave or something. Just as quickly, I reminded myself he didn't owe me an explanation, scolding myself for expecting too much from someone I just met. I reached for my shoes and put them on unceremoniously. Oh well, I guess in reality it doesn't matter too much, I told myself.

I went into the bathroom to wash my face, taking a look in the mirror at the bags under my eyes. After somewhat trying to make myself look less dead, or at least decent, I went out of the bathroom and grabbed my things, heading for the door, taking a look around and hoping I hadn't made a mess. I had made a little effort to make it appear as if no one had been here at all. I reached the door in order to turn the knob only to stop midway, remembering it needed a password. But I found when I tried to open the door that it opened with no resistence. I took one last glance around at the unfamiliar apartment, wondering if this was Luciels way of telling me I was free.

I frowned, pulling my bag up my shoulder properly and closing the door behind me.

______________________x___________________________

I could do nothing to concentrate at school.   
I kept thinking about whether Luciel had gone back to Rikas apartment. Whether he wondered why I left. Whether he wondered if I really had anything to do with the person who owned the black phone. Among the many other questions I was curious on asking him. I wondered if I'd get the chance, shaking my head in order to remember he told me I could go and he'd contact me when he needed to.

I sat in class half-heartedly paying attention to what was going on. The good thing about me and school is that I always tried to get ahead, studying vigorously about my subjects ahead of time in case I had these sort of moments when I couldn't be bothered to pay attention. I try my best in general. But by damn it was so hard.

He was walking around. Breathing. His heart beating. It was a strange feeling.

As soon as class was over, I walked out with a few friends.   
"You alright there Aki?"   
"Yeah, I'm good." I answered everyone.   
"What happened yesterday? I called you a bunch of times for notes but you didn't pick up."   
"Ah yeah, sorry. I knocked out when I got home." I lied.   
"What are you doing today? Let's go grab a bite for dinner or something."  
"I have to catch up on assignments. You guys go ahead though ok?" I said, waving to my group of friends.

Actually, I really desperately needed to sleep. My mind kept racing all day.

Walking past the courtyard towards the streets where I would catch the bus to the train station, I glanced at my watch and wondered if I'd make it home for early dinner or if I had to grab something alone. Just as I was about to turn a corner, I felt my arm being yanked. I gasped loudly, a hand clamping itself over my mouth. I screamed, thrashing about, trying to reach for my taser and trying to be loud enough for someone to notice. Oh god, why is this happening?????

"Shhhh! Jesus, it's me, Luciel. Stop screaming!" I heard an oddly loud whisper. I stopped my thrashing and tried to look at him. I recognized that mop of red hair indeed. He was wearing sunglasses instead of his regular glasses, his headphones around his neck, a white shirt and black coat over it. I assumed this was him trying to appear not only cool, but also normal. He did say he wore regular clothes too.   
"What are you doing here?" I asked him, fully turning around to him. He was much, much taller than I was. I had to turn up slightly to look him in the face. Reaching into his pocket, he took out what appeared to be my phone.   
"Well, I tried calling you but you forgot you left your phone with me. Do you always have to scream??? I'm gonna go deaf because of you. Take a look, it should work properly now." he said to me. I grabbed it and unlocked it, as I normally would. Everything about it was back to normal, except the VOLKANIKA app was still installed.   
"I have to keep the messenger app then?" I asked him, showing him my screen with the black butterfly showing it was loading.   
"You do for now. Unless I get ordered to delete it off your phone it has to stay." he said, and continue with a grin, "Besides, how else will you talk to the defender of justice if you get rid of it?~~" he said with that childish playful tone.   
"Seriously?" I asked unamused. He laughed a hearty laugh.   
"Actually, speaking about this whole ordeal... yeeaahhhhhhh I need you to come with me for a little bit." He said rubbing   
the back of his head. It seemed like a habit, a bad habit actually.   
"Why?" I asked him, curiously.   
"Well, eventhough I've been trying to trace the person who hacked the system, I can't find anything. And you're involved now so the other members want to meet you. Or more like interrogate you." he said to me, looking around suspiciously, as if someone could over hear us. Or worse, as if we were being watched. I looked around as well, slightly afraid that someone really was watching. It happened in the game.

But this wasn't a game. Could there really be such a thing?   
"OK. I'll come with you." I said. He grinned.   
"Good girl~ Nowwwww~~" he said outloud turning around, "Let's go this way~~~" he told me, asking me to follow. He walked cautiously.   
"Why do you look so afraid?" I asked, me trailing behind him.   
"Did you forget I'm a secret agent? I can't be seen in public, someone might recognize me." he said in a   
hushed tone.   
"Even in the U.S?" I said mockingly. He scoffed.   
"My fame is world wide, ok? I'm the number one hacker for a reason."   
"Just like in the game?"   
"Exactly. Cool right?" he said to me as we reached a particular spot, a neutral black car waiting. He opened the door for me, signaling for me to come in. I got inside the car and he followed suit, sitting next to me and giving no instructions to the driver, who apparently already knew what to do.   
"Where are we going?"  
"Not sure, it's some secret location Jumin picked out."  
"I have a few questions to ask you about that............"  
"Yeah? like what?"  
"Are all the chara-- You guys the same as the game you guys?" I asked dumbly, wondering if that sentence made any sense. It most likely didn't. He pursed his lips a little, thinking.   
"A bit. I really enjoy accuracy. And if I was gonna mess around with my friends, I would definitely do it so they know I'm messing with them~~ But I don't think any of them found the game. Which is good, cause like I said, Jumin would probably kill me... or worse, sue me for usage of image without permission...." he said in a fake terrified voice. What a dork.   
"So it's pretty accurate then...." I said to myself mostly.   
"For the most part. Honestly, I just gave pictures, some basics and a little history but someone else did everything else about the game, like scripts, dialogues, the works in between, and then I just coded it for fun in my spare time. It's easy for me to make those things. So some things are true and some things might not be, I don't know."  
Ah. That made sense.   
"Wait, if the game is so popular, which I know it is since alot of my friends play it too, how is it that  the others don't know about it?" I asked, turning fully to face him. The light was shining through the window as the car moved in the freeway. He laughed so amusedly, his perfect smile showing, his red hair looking more red from the   
light.

Ugh. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................. 

"That's because I deliberately blocked them all from ever seeing the game in the end, which wasn't hard."  
"How?? Why?"   
"Eventhough I was just messing around, I think it went a little too far. Honestly, they'd be pretty pissed at me, I think. Well, the only real problem would be Yoosung. He's always playing that League of legends game so I know, he's into games. But I hacked computer, filtered his IP and hacked his phone so it could never show up for him, even by coincidence. As for the rest. Zen, Jaehee, Jumin, I blocked their phones too but it doesn't seem to be necessary since they're always so busy with their own things, they honestly don't care." he said to me.   
"I see...."  
"Oh, we're here." he said. I turned away and glanced to what seemed to be a huge house. Venice Beach?  It was some sort of beach. I'm one of those awful people who always stays home and never has fun so I had no clue where we were, which I assume was the point of this location. As we drove in through the drive through, it seemed to be some sort of country club, maybe something else. I'm pretty sure if real Jumin is anything like game Jumin, this is probably his idea. Just from looking at the valet parking, the fancy cars, the area, I was afraid they'd charge me just for breathing......

I catched Seven looking at me curiously, amusedly. I realized he only had two faces. Either he was perpetually amused or perpetually pokered face. 

"What?"

"I'm curious as to what everyones reactions will be to your presence." he told me, a hand on his chin   
thoughtfully, obviously amused.   
"You're enjoying this a little much, you know." I said to him, glaring.   
"I gotta say I really am. I mean, apart from the how, I'm just curious. Will you really be just like the nameless Main Character and end up revolutionizing lives and stuff?? Whaaaaaaaaaaat~ Curious, curious, curious~" he said tauntingly in that hyper obnoxious way.  
"And I thought _I_ was obsessed with that game. I guess no one can beat the creator." I retorted. He gasped, a hand to his chest dramatically.   
"THAT'S IT. I'm the architect." he said lamely, putting his arms together like a villain. I laughed, what an idiot noodle boy he is. Just like his character.   
"You're a very strange guy." I said.   
"And you're not strange enough. Trust me, I'll corrupt you, and eventually, you'll be just as strange as me." he said with a wink, opening the door and getting off the car, leaving me blushing. Did he just say he was going to corrupt me? When we just met??????

What a little shit he is.

I followed closely behind him, feeling horribly under-dressed for such a fancy place. As I had assumed, it appeared that everything inside it was expensive. Expensive furniture, expensive decorations, expensive floor. Expensive guests. Expensive air.... Luciel walked quickly, apparently with a destination in mind. My heart raced. He said the others wanted to interrogate me. I couldn't blame them for it but it was also intimidating, especially considering I knew they all existed already.

There was a big court yard facing the ocean with lots of separated little huts. We walked towards one that was already occupied, my breath hitching in my throat when I saw familar and yet unfamiliar figures sitting about leisurely. A pair of dark eyes caught my attention, as they pierced into my soul. A familiar minty blue head turning towards me, the rest of them doing the same.

"Yo, the prisoner is here." Luciel said with a salute.   
"You sure took your time bringing her, Luciel."   
"Seven!"   
"Who's this little lady?"  
"Hello, Miss."  
"Hello."

I couldn't believe my eyes, which were threatening to pop out of my head.

It was the RFA Team in all it's glory. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I will be changing the boys personalities/stories a little bit for the sake of this story. Nothing too major because ultimately I DO want them to be themselves. But we all know life wouldn't work out that way and honestly how fun would it be if they really were exactly the same??? None of this story would be fun if you knew what was gonna happen next~~~~ 
> 
> Also Seven. Seven is still a little shit.


	6. If.....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you get to see/know/realize just how fucked up this whole thing really is. Also Seven is too trusting, spilling his secrets way too fast. Also Akira has like three lines.

My breath was ragged, steps accelerated.

I knew the reason. I understood why it had to be this way. But it drilled into my nerves.

I walked catiously, the hairs at the back of my neck standing up slightly. There were lots of people, it was the middle of the day after all. Yet it was the only presence I felt as a constant.

He was always watching me.  
He watched as I arrived to school, as I came out of it, as I hung out with friends, as I came out of my house.  
He was there watching my every move for the last three weeks.

I could hear his steps behind me every second of the day since.

I furrowed my brows remebering how this came about.

Three weeks ago, I met the members of Rika's Fundraising Association. Or at least that's what I had thought they were, remembering in detail how it all came about.

I had arrived with Luciel, and eventually found myself sitting in the private hut. Luciel and who I was sure was  
V sitting on either side of me, while the rest sat in the outdoor couch across, tension obvious to thediscussion at hand: Me.

"Are you serious about this, V? We don't even know who this girl is. It's only been a day." I heard the one I was sure was Jumin say.

My first impression of Jumin was of a living, breathing doll. He was exceptionally beautiful, even more beautiful than was possible for a guy. He had an air of sophistication an arrogance, like Hyun Bin as Hyun Jin-Heon in My Name is Kim Sam Soon. The arrogant heir to a wealthy family, a cold arrogant attitude about him, yet charming. This was Jumin. He stared at me with an unreadable look, cold and calculating, but not cold enough to hide his curiosity.

"I had Luciel do a very thorough background check and though it's not over, I'm pretty convinced she's innocent." said the man in the blue hair next to me.

V was exactly as I thought he'd be. Calm, collected and deattached. I couldn't for the life of me figure out if he was any different than his game version or not. I had to hand it to Luciel, he got his air of mystery down to the very last detail. V was very handsome, his eyes cloudy. I knew he was blind in the game, or going blind, but it appeared as if in reality, V could see a little. And there was much less angst about him than I had thought.

"Jumin Hyungs right though. What if this is just a cover up? What if she's working for them to get to us?" I heard the sweet familiar voice of the blonde who I knew was Yoosung. Yoosung was a surprise. In his game version he was innocent seeming and sweet. But the beautiful face sitting infront of me was anything but that. He had a fiery innocence if that made sense. He didn't seem to have a single hair of naivety. More than that, Yoosung actually looked more manly than I had pictured. I guess Seven just really wanted to highlight his innocence to make sense.

"Is there anything else you're planning on doing V? As in, any other precautions?" I heard a sweet feminine voice. Jaehee was just as I expected appearance wise. A beautiful girl with a beautiful voice and a robotic tone. I could swear she'd be a Capricorn, difficult to read and even more difficult to figure out. But she had an open face, her disapproval of me obvious in it. She eyed me directly, unfraid to show her suspicions. I gulped under her gaze.

"Come on, guys. maybe she really did nothing wrong. Besides, what can she do now? We've got her trapped right here, right?" said the deep and playful voice of a silver haired god. Ok, I'm just going to go ahead and say that beauty like that was not human. There was no possible way that a face that perfect could exist in the flesh. If game Zen was beautiful, by god it was so much more in the flesh. Those narrowed eyes. Zen's eyes in reality were brown, but with certain highlights that shined with that red which was present in his game counterpart. So much grace.

So much perfection in one room should be illegal.  
And by the sounds of it, it probably was.

"What would be the purpose of them sending some random girl directly? They probably saw this one and thought she looked dumb enough to play along." I heard Seven say, pointing casually at me. I scoffed.  
"Um, hello? Still in the room, you brute."  
Zen and Yoosung snickered silently, Jumin's eyes wide, Jaehee's face unhinged, V's unreadable at my comment.  
"I was there when she was screaming for help. If she really were a pro, she would've been able to get out of that situation. I honestly don't think she's dangerous." said Luciel crossing his arms across his chest.  
"You don't think that might be an elaborate plan? It was agains't your security systems, which you brag are unbreakable. Even so, even if she is just an innocent bypasser, she might not be dangerous but the motive behind her is. You know they've been searching for us all for years. How are we supposed to clean our image if we let our guard down?" said Jumin.  
I was puzzled.  
Searching?  
"Well, whatever you guys decide, it's fine by me. I'm just tired of the situation." said Zen.  
"What did you say your name was?" Yoosung asked me. He was the first one out of Luciel who acknowledged me directly.  
"My name is Akira." I answered him, looking straight at him. He smiled politely.  
"Can you tell us what happened one more time?" he asked, self assured. Game Yoosung was a nervous incoherent mess. Real Yoosung was much more confident apparently.  
"I really was just returning the phone I found in the train. The person on the other side told me it was a friend of hers and that she'd been looking for it. But I didn't know what was gonna happen. I swear." I pleaded beside myself. I knew I didn't do anything wrong. I kicked myself mentally for caring what these people  
thought of me.  
"What did you find out about that phone, Luciel?" Zen asked him. Luciel just shrugged absentmindedly.  
"Not a single thing. Whoever did it is just as skilled as I am. It's definitely a professional." he answered honestly. Jumin showed a slight frown.  
"And you _STILL_ want us to give this girl the benefit of the doubt?" he asked V directly. V nodded.  
"I know it appears dangerous but I honestly believe it to be true she's clean. She doesn't have to know anything else beyond this point." V answered.

Needless to say I was very confused. But I felt it wasn't an option to ask what they were talking about.

They all exchanged glances for a moment, uncertainty painting their faces before Jumin sighed.

"Alright. We can let her go." he said, uncaring for the situation any longer. V smiled slightly.  
"Trust me old friend. We really don't need more people involved. It's difficult for just us to escape." he said to him.  
There were so many questions in my head suddenly.  
I took a glance at the beach. The sunset was giving way to night, the sky dancing with orange clouds and a few stars peppered the sky with their glow. It was late and after yesterday, I was in no rush to have another sleepless night.

"Um... excuse me?" I asked suddenly, their attention on me curiously.  
"What is it?" Jumin asked me.  
"Are we done here?"  
"Ah. Yes. You can go." he said dismissedly, disinterest in his face. I frowned. He was just as unfriendly. Luciel looked at me, while the others continued to talk amongst eachother, the conversation changing to Korean. They still glanced at me a few more times before Luciel stood up.  
"Alright, I'm gonna take her home and I'm just gonna go back to my hotel."  
"Ok. Bye, Luciel." Jaehee said, smiling at him.  
"Later." Zen said with a two finger salute.  
"It was nice meeting you Akira!" Yoosung said to me, a bright smile in his face.  
"You and I have things to talk about. Call me as soon as you're available." Jumin said to Luciel.

As soon as we were away, I let out a sigh I had subconsciously been holding. Luciel looked at me.  
"You alright there?" he asked.  
"That was the most hostile environment I've ever been in....." I confessed. He laughed.  
"Can't really blame us though, can you~~~? You just came out of no where."

Just as we were reaching the door, I heard V's voice behind us.  
"Miss Akira." he said to me. I glanced at him curiously.  
"What is it?" I asked him.  
"I just want to let you know that even though I believe you're innocent, I'm still very sorry." he answered, bidding a farewell before walking away.

I glanced at Seven curiously. He just shrugged.  
At the time I wondered what he meant.

But bringing me back to the current moment with this dark presence trailing me, I figured this is why he had said he was sorry.

Finally after getting really fed up with it, I turned around and showed my annoyance at him, the man visibly flinching.

This man. He was a private investigator Jumin hired, I'm sure.

  
"My god, until when will you STOP following me around??" I almost yelled, the man attempting to silence me.  
"ShhH! Miss! You know I have no choice. There are orders from Mr. Han to have you under twenty four hour surveillance."  
"But you've been following me for three fuckin weeks. What more proof does he need that I'm not some weird criminal??????" I asked the man in a shushed agitated tone, turning around and walking away. I heard his steps start again, right behind me. Right behind me again like every day this week.

I mean I _COULD_ just report him as some sort of pervert and have him hoisted off but I think that would make me look more suspicious.

Just then, I heard a familiar amused laugh. I looked to the side and Luciel was standing right there.  
"It's ok Detective Lee. I'll take over for now. Let Jumin know when he calls." he said to the man.  
"But Mr. Han said--"  
"Mr. Han isn't even in the country right now. I'm sure he'll be fine with you resting for a few hours while his trusted friend, Aka, me, looks after his suspect right?" he told him, a defiant tone on his voice. I didn't know if it was cool or worrisome honestly, being too annoyed.  
"Yes, _please_ just let me be for a little while. Seven's here. He'll monitor me just the same." I pleaded to the man. Needless to say it was a strange situation, because the man looked genuinely torn. I guess to a certain level he realized I really wasn't doing anything wrong and my discomfort had also made him uncomfortable. Actually, there were various times after the first few days when he actually being nice to me and helping me out, which I'm pretty sure wasn't part of his job. He sighed defeatedly.  
"Fine. I'll let you have some privacy for just a little while. But I have to continue my job later today, alright?"  
"Yes, God! Ok! I know! Just go for now, sir!" I said in exasperation. He looked almost relieved as he walked away.

I can't believe I've had to ask for basic personal freedoms, like privacy, and space.  
I turned around and glared at Seven, who looked down right confused.  
"What?"  
"None of this would be happening if I hadn't met you!" I said to him walking ahead. He raised an incredulous brow and followed right next to me, that annoying amused grin on his face.  
"Actually none of this would be happening if you hadn't found that damned phone!" he said to me.  
  
We bickered the entire way to the apartment.

Once there, there was an arsenal of junk food. Honey Butter chips and Dr. Pepper really did seem to be his favorite thing to eat, but thankfully there were a few more things, like samgak kimbap, seaweed salad, taiyaki, shrimp chips and even hot bars. I had no idea where he got these from since, and I guess this proves how little I go outside, I had never seen a place that sold them myself. As I sat in the bed, Luciel next to me munching on his chips and typing away at his computer, I still questioned him for answers. He had refused to give me more details, saying he couldn't say anything until it was deemed for sure I was off the hook.  
"So this is gonna continue happening? Mr. Lee is still gonna be following me around all day???"  
"Sorry. I didn't hire him so I don't know."  
"Will you at least answer my other questions about why this is necessary." I said more than asked. He sighed, taking off his glasses for a second. He looked directly at me squinting a bit. I turned away avoiding, eye contact entirely. He still made me nervous. It was that damn pretty face. I really, really hoped he didn't think he was anything less than gorgeous, like in the game.  
"It's difficult to explain." he told me, his face going serious.  
"So start at the beginning." I retorted.  
"You're so stubborn. I really don't think you want to get involved in this."  
"I'm already involved as it is, whats the worse thing that could happen?" I said jokingly. But the look on his face told me I just made a terrible mistake.  
"Trust me, it can get much worse." he replied gravely, not a trace of that amused nature of his showing. I stared at him for a few seconds, pondering if I should ask further.  
"Luciel, you might as well tell me the truth. It's not like I can run anymore. You said so yourself." I asked, matching his seriousness. This is not a conversation I ever imagined having. He sighed.  
"You're right. There's really no point on hiding things too much. They probably know everything about you too."  
"They?"  
He seemed to be thinking about it throughly, as if trying to explain it in a way I'd understand, before finally speaking.  
"Ok, you know how in my game, the Main Character is led, like you were, into Rika's apartment and she finds out about RFA, a fundraising secret group that holds parties?" he gesturing with his hands. I nodded, it was the point of the game. I always thought it was kinda lame, but it didn't have to make sense in a game.  
"Yeah, is that what you guys do too? A secret fundraising party?" I asked him, trying to hide my amusement when he looked so serious. He laughed bitterly.  
"I wish that was what we did. Honestly, I would prefer the easy life of game 707 haha.." he said.  
"What's different?" I asked. He pursed his lips a little.  
"In reality, we're obviously not known as RFA, but we are known as a group called RYSING. Rika made the group with the same motive as the one I made for the game. She had wanted to make something good for everyone, so she could redeem herself for feeling so shit all the time. She and V of course, were lovers, Jumin is V's best friend, Yoosung is her cousin, she was fond of Zen. We met by coincidence. We don't host parties, but we did make a few fundraisers for people to help the community. I helped her by spreading things virally online, everyone else using their own influences. But after words got out of our gatherings, alot of bad people started using the fundraisers we had for dark motives, black market and other exchanges, secretly hiding their motives behind charity. While she had good intentions in the beginning, Rika's view of the world became  
twisted, she lost the real motive for RYSING and helped these people organize these events in disguise, in exchange for their money. She became the shadow that covered their asses, keeping records of many underworld gangs and shady politicians and executives." he sighed.  
"Is that why Rika lived alone in this apartment?" I asked.  
"Yes. She was in Korea like all of us. But the deeper and deeper she got into this problem, the more it rose her paranoia. She didn't mean to become involved in something so difficult, but it consumed her entirely. So V and Jumin convinced her to move to the U.S. That was the real reason why Rika isn't here anymore. The pressure and fear was so much she committed suicide."  
I felt like someone punched me in the stomach as he said all the things he said. He continued, even after seeing the disturbance in my face.  
"We became involved only because what we thought we were doing was good. But none of us liked it anymore, not like when it really was for good. It wasn't good anymore either so we all tried to quit. But we were threatened by all those people who had been using the fundraisers to meet up as a cover. Jumin, V andI tried our best to take back the event but we couldn't do it anymore. So one day, we just stopped doing it without ever explaining why."  
I stared at him as he spilled everything.  
"But they still know who you all are. How is it you're still alive?" I asked him seriously.  
"They know we're influential to a certain point. Suspicions to our relations would rise and they'd question everyone directly involved, it would be a domino effect because they know we have dirt on all of them in order to have them blamed in case anything happens to us. So instead, they sneak their way into finding us. You know, hiring hitmen, detectives, anyone to do their dirty work for them indirectly, in order to eliminate us all one by one."  
I gasped, horrified.  
"That's the reason we're so suspicious about how you ended up here. Not because you did anything wrong. I know you're innocent. But whatever led you here is definitely a way to get to us. Now you see how much worse it could be? Akira, I'm not telling you this to scare you," he said, taking my hand in his, "But for you to realize that you will never have a normal life again." he said to me sadly.

I was petrified. He looked at me sadly.  
"I'm so sorry." he said giving my hand a slight squeeze, "I swear, I'll try my best to protect you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally getting to the actual point of this story. Sorry if people expected only fluff and comedy but blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love dark themes and action. I'm so sorry. Please don't leave me hate, none of this is canon, I know that! I'm just writing a random story T______T


	7. VOYAGE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jumin shows off he's rich, Yoosung and Zen are obviously single, and Seven doesn't know how to flirt with a real girl and Jaehee is a poor darling who hardly has any lines. Yes, I'm still garbage. This isn't as dark as last chapter, I promise.

There was a ding emitting from my phone. I turned to look at it and realized it was a notification for Mystic Messenger, the already familiar chatroom with it's title lighting up my screen. I frowned looking at it. I had been on day nine of Jumin's route but I actually had stopped playing the game in general at this point.

As I laid in my room, looking up at the ceiling, my thoughts kept wondering to the conversation I had had with Luciel at the apartment. It had been so dense and heavy.....I felt some anxiety but not enough to interrupt my daily life. It still felt unreal this was an actual situation, enough so that I was actually numb enough to make myself believe it wasn't happening.

I last talked with Luciel two days ago.  
Noticing the time, I sighed after taking a glance out the window to the rays of sunlight coming in, immediately getting up and attempting to continue on with my daily life, as if nothing was different. As if I didn't suddenly fear for my life.

I stepped outside and realized it was a lovely day. It was warm and sunny, the weather unbearably hot though it was already October, not unheard of weather for California. I walked indifferently to things around me, undisturbed by the sounds of a garbage truck, of the leaf blowers of gardeners, of traffic and talking in the packed station towards my school.

Was there even anything I could do to escape?  
From the sounds of it, there really was nothing I could do. Still, it was silent, and calm as always so I couldn't see that it was really happening. This same thought followed me all day. I walked after classes with my usual group of friends in the same normal manner.

Yes, nothing was out of the ordinary just yet.  
We turned a corner together as a group, laughing and chatting away, waiting for the elevator heading towards the parking lots last floor. As I silently listened in to friendly chatters among my friends, I suddenly felt a pull on my arm, yaking me towards the wall. I gasped silently enough no one heard my surprise.  
"Shhh. It's me." I heard Luciel, my heart beat accelerating.  
"What are you doing here?" I asked in a shushed tone, looking forward and trying to keep his presence a secret from my friends. He stood on the other side of the wall.  
"We've gotta talk. Can you come with me?" he asked, with the same hushed tone I used. His hand was still on my arm. I heard the elevator door bell, signaling it's arrival.  
"C'mon Aki." I heard one of my friends call. I smiled.  
"I- Uh- I just remembered I've got something to do." I said, hearing them groan.  
"Again? C'mon don't be a party pooper, can't it wait?" a male friend said to me. I felt kind of bad. I've been doing this alot since Luciel showed up in my life.....................  
"I promise to hang out soon ok? I really have to do this." I said to them.  
"Fine. But you're missing out." another friend said. I waved as they all arranged themselves in the elevator, joking around and waving at me then watching them disappear behind the metal door. I sighed to myself. I didn't need to turn to know Luciel was standing next to me, I had heard his steps as he approached me. He was wearing the black and yellow hoodie this time, a white shirt under instead of his signature red onethough. He had a black baseball cap on too. I turned to him, unamused at seeing him. His presence now only told me it wasn't a good thing he was here.  
"What is it?" I asked him not seeing a point of beating around the bush.  
"Is that really the way to greet the great 707, defender of justice and your protector?" he said to me, that cocky amused grin in his face.  
"I think your presence only means one thing now, and that thing is trouble." I retorted, making my way towards the stairs, him trailing behind.  
"Wait, wait where are you going?" he asked, grabbing my arm again to stop me from going further. I groaned, my skin getting a little too used to the touch of his fingers. Nerves raised from just a bit of contact, I pulled away, a frown in my face.  
"I don't know. Outside?"  
"We can't go out there. You're being followed." he said. I felt my annoyance fall, a wave of anxiety replacing it, stopping entirely and turning to look at him.  
"What? How do you know?" I asked, afraid.  
"Because I've been following you too. I'm in charge of security, so it's natural I'd be following." he said to me casually. I blushed. He's been watching me this whole time?????? Even when I thought I was alone?  
"I thought that was Mr. Lee's job." I said in return.  
"It was, but Jumin insisted I look after you after I told him you know the truth." he said to me, looking around.  
"Look, we can't talk about this here. My car is parked in here. Let's go somewhere to talk alone." he said, signaling for me to follow him, which I did.

Eventually we ended up in an unlikely place.

"Waah... you're a major Otaku.." he said.

My room was a mess indeed but what was worse was him grabbing my carefully arranged mess. I snatched the little boxed figure that had been sitting in my desk.  
"Yes, Yes I am. Stop touching things!" I said to him. He sat in my computer chair, randomly glancing around. There was nothing weird about my room. At least I don't think so. It was pretty messy, but it couldn't be anything else considering I had school and sometimes work as well. His eyes amusedly looked at the framed drawings in my wall, particularly in one spot. He grinned in that annoyingly familiar wicked manner.

"So was my character your favorite in the game?" he asked, and I suddenly remembered a colored drawing I had framed, a present from my friend. I could've died that very second. He could never know of my real affections for that character.    
"You definitely were in the game, not sure about the actual you though." I said bluntly, and quickly, making him stammer. I started talking before he did.  
"In either case, you still haven't answered my question. How did you figure out I was followed, apart from following me yourself?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.  
"I use the cameras in the security of your school to keep track. I saw this weird dude in several shots over a few days so I became suspicious and hacked his phone. It wasn't difficult. Whoever they are didn't send a very smart spy. But I heard something about kidnap and I had to go warn you today." he said to me.  
"Kidnap????? Why would they want to kidnap me???" I asked, shocked. Seven shrugged.  
"I'm sure it has to do with the fact you're acquainted with us now." he said matter of factly. I sighed and remembered my encounter with the rest, the hostile environment.  
"No, I'm acquainted with you. The rest of the members don't seem to like me at all........"  
"That's exactly true. Which is why you and I are gonna go have a little personal time with the others today." he said to me, standing up from the chair. I was sitting in my bed close to his chair, so I craned my neck up to look at his impossibly tall figure.  
"Can I ask you something?" I said. He stared at me.  
"What's up?" he said.  
"Why do you care whether the others like me or not?" I asked him sincerely. He chuckled.  
"I don't, actually. But you're acquainted with us now so it's only a matter of time before they have to accept you're part of our group whether they like it or not. I mean... your life depends on us now, after all." he simply said.

Ouch. So he doesn't really care about what happens to me. I kind of figured since we weren't really even friends but damn.   
"I see...." I said to him. He looked at me and probably realized what he said was a bit cold and quickly tried to correct himself.  
"W-Well! Why do you care whether they like you or not?? I mean I like you-- I mean -- You're cool...." he said, stammering over his words. I looked up at him and his awkward expression. I guess he's really this awkward for real. I giggled.  
"I guess the real you isn't as smooth as game you." I said, standing up. He stopped rubbing his neck and smiled.  
"Bingo. But hey! Can you just stop referencing my game???? I'm right here you know~!" he said.

"Fine."

xXxXxXxXxXx  
"So what do you do?" I heard the sweet voice from the beautiful blonde boy sitting next to me.

After clearing with Seven that it was safe to go, and reassuring my parents I wouldn't be staying out for three days straight, he drove us Downtown to the Maison 140 in Beverly Hills. Eventhough I lived in California, I had never set foot around the Rodeo Drive area, the area that boasted the high class boutiques and shops like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada etc. This was definitely the treat, or idea, of Jumin once again. Maybe this is Jumin's way of showing off his wealth. It was a beautiful place, obviously a high class luxury hotel, small, and rivate for the richest of the rich. "Ah, I've been to Los Angeles many times, but I'm personally extremely tired of the Marriot or Hotel Casa del Mar. I had assitant Kang look for a smaller more private place to enjoy our short stay." Jumin said when I arrived. I felt the bill rise by the second so I just sat still.

Their curious glances were still there but the hostility of our first meeting wasn't as strong. The only person missing was V. They were sitting in the intricate black chairs. The color scheme was all red, black, white, with not many people around, a bar area and staff. Yoosung at some point sat next to me and started talking.

"I'm mostly just studying to become a Veterinary Technician." I answered. I remembered game Yoosung, and the way his face lit up at the mention of Veterinary work, I figured his dream was the same one.  
"Really?! So am I! I guess we have that much in common right?" he said chuckling. He was very, very cute. Broad shoulders, a perfect smile.  
"Hey, don't bore her with your school stories, eh, Yoosung." I heard Zens voice say to me, as he sat in a nearby chair.  
"I'm not boring her! I'm just being friendly...." he said defensively.  
"Hey, Akira, do you like musicals?" Zen asked me suddenly, and I almost chuckled really loudly. That was accurate too I guess. It wasn't difficult to see how much of his friends personal lives Luciel had put into his game or why they'd want to kill him if they found out. I giggled a bit instead and looked at Luciel, who turned to look at me as Jumin and Jaehee were, holding back his own laughter. It was as if we shared a secret. Zen realized where my eyes were and smirked.

"I guess it's not musicals that you like then." he said, leaning his cheek into his arm in that seductive and mysterious manner that I believed was only possible for anime characters. I turned my full attention at him as he said that.  
"I don't think I've ever seen enough musicals to judge." I said, ignoring his comment and changing the subject back. Zen sighed dramatically.  
"Oh goodness, I guess since you're one of us, I have no choice but to show you some of my performances." he said, a hand in his chest and another one to his head in an even more dramatic manner. Yoosung scoffed.  
"Hey! Don't bother her with your musical stories too, hyung!" he said, annoyance in his voice.  
"At least they're more interesting than being late to school everyday." Zen said back.  
"What was that??? I'm not late to school everyday!"  
"Yeah, and you're never up late playing that stupid League of legends game."  
"LOL is NOT stupid hyung! And in either case, you don't see me insulting your stupid musicals!" he said, angry. Huh. He's more hot headed than game Yoosung for sure.   
"Hey! I'm just saying you should lay off the games and focus on being a good adult!"  
"Hyung, why are you doing this to me infront of our new friend?!"  
"That's enough of you two." Jumin suddenly said, making the group collectively look at him.  
"You're not only guests in this hotel, but also adults. Behave as such or you can find a way back to Korea on your own."  
"Listen money bags, I don't need your money to go back." Zen said, looking away and crossing his leg.

"Fine then you stay here. I'll have them send you a separate bill."

"W-Whoa hold up there! If you're gonna do a deed, do the whole damn deed! The bill is yours, I've got payments to make at home, unlike you!"

I watched the scene before me in both amusement and amazement.  
......................This isn't a shocking scene.  
Jumin turned to me.  
"It appears as if your presence has excited these two a little too much. It really must be because they haven't dated in a few months." he said bluntly, making both Yoosung and Zen blush up to their ears.  
"Hey! That has nothing to do with that!" Yoosung said crossing his arms across his chest.  
"Yeah, we were just being friendly. And who are you to say????"  
"Not that it's any of your business but I'll have you know I've had a few partners, more than both of you, I believe." he said.  
"Gentlemen this isn't the time to be discussing your....... gross partner lives in front of our guest." Jaehee said, an iPad in her arm.  
"Yeah, keep it in your pants all of you haha...." Seven said.  
"Anyway," Jumin started again, "Akira, I guess you can consider this your official welcome to RYSING. There's nothing in particular for you to do so apart from keeping our secret, unless you have some use for our organization, we probably won't need to see eachother too much, if at all, after our stay." he said bluntly. Typical Jumin. Then again  
it made me a little sad to realize there really was nothing I could offer to help out. There was very few things I could do after all. I looked at Seven, his face in that poker mode, showed nothing to comfort me.  
"That's alright. I'll keep your secret and try to watch out for whatever is out here." I said, smiling. Jumin smiled, something I didn't think was possible.  
"Thank you. I'm sure you won't have as much trouble as we do, since you're out here in America after all."  
"Can we really say that though? They followed us here. They've been following her too." Seven said, crossing his arms.  
"It's to be expected. The only thing I can offer for her is security. A fleet of bodyguards to protect her since we'll be heading back to Korea soon."

I gasped silently.  
They're leaving....?  
"Did you guys come to the U.S for business?" I asked. It hadn't occurred to me that they were here for a reason until now.  
"Father sent me to take care of a business deal for the company so I've been coming back and forth for the past two months. The rest of them just tagged along for a free vacation." he said as if it was nice and simple.  
"Not me~~~~ I came here to hide from the agency for a few days. Too much work~ I needed a break~" Seven said. I smiled. He's most definitely still a piece of crap.  
"In either case, I'm very saddened you had to be dragged into this. But your lack of judgement frankly is appalling. Why in the world did you go to a strangers apartment?" Jumin asked as if he still couldn't believe I was that dumb. I blushed, realizing they'd probably never let me live that down.  
"L-Like I said a thousand times already, I really thought I was doing someone a huge favor. Can you guys please not remind me of that?" I said, looking down.  
They all laughed collectively.  
"You're definitely more innocent than I thought. It's nice. After so many bad people, I'm glad there's still some pure people out there." Zen said, a smile in his beautiful face. Dear god, it was like staring straight into the sun. I heard the sound of a phone, Jumin pulling it out of his pocket.  
"I've got to take this call. Excuse me." he said, immediately switching to Korean, walking to the other side of the room for privacy.

Yoosung turned to me again.  
"Do you like playing games?" he asked me curiously. He most definitely was young. I smiled, the easy setting and tension disappearing into casual conversation.  
"I do, a few actually." I answered. I had my phone in my hand and I realized now that what happened next was probably inevitable.  
"Ohh! Can I see what games you have? I'm always looking for a new game to play." Yoosung said, leaning towards me. His proximity didn't make me nervous, but it was intimidating.  
"Yoosung stop pestering her about the games!" Zen said, a drink in his hand.  
"I'm not! She plays them too! Stop being jealous, hyung!" he retorted, sitting right next to me, his leg touching mine as if we had known eachother for more than the amount we actually did.  
"I'm not jealous!" Zen said.

My phone made that sound again. The familiar sound of Mystic Messenger and I looked down at the screen.  
"Hey! What's that??" Yoosung said, looking at my screen, reading the name of the chatroom.  
"U-UH....! It's nothing! Nothing!" I said, looking towards Luciel who was still talking to Jaehee not far from us.  
"Oh. I this a game. Can I see?" Yoosung said reaching for my phone. God, why is this kid so nosey............!  
"L-LUCIEL?????" I said loudly, seeing him turn curiously, but it was too late, Yoosung already had taken my phone from me and with my phone unlocked from my fingerprint, I couldn't stop him from browsing, seeing the screen load up to the chatroom. His eyebrows furrowed curiously, a cold sweat escaping my body. What do I do??? What do I say to him????????????

He stared at the phone.  
"Hey, what's this? My name is in this."

Luciel's face paled, and my face matched his automatically.  
"AKIRA TAKE THAT AWAY FROM HIM."  
"I'M SORRY!"

"Mystic Messenger??" Yoosung said outloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this story was gonna be dark, but honestly it needs the dark part for the light and boring parts to make sense. So no, it's not all angst. I'm a sucker for humor and bullshit so here's more of that. Sorry. I'm still sorry for the existence of this.


	8. DEVIL.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which God Seven makes an appearance and Akira is also Tsundere AF. Also Yoosung. Yoosung turns into Zen and loves himself. Also it's shorter than I would've wanted but mehhhh.

He was utterly amused.

Yoosung laughed loudly. Seven was sitting next to me in the lounge chair in his room, completely horrified still.  
"Why didn't you take the phone away?? Huh? It was CRUCIAL that they didn't know about it." He whispered harshly at me, as Yoosung continued to hold my phone hostage, something he had been doing for a couple of days now. I was slightly mortified, almost wanting to shrink into my seat, but also sort of enjoying secretly how cringey Seven was acting.  
"Well, what was I supposed to do?? Just snatch it away???" I hissed back. Seven turned fully to look at me, glaring.  
"YES. GOD. What is it with you and phones??? You hold on to a strangers phone for dear life but when it comes to yours you can't even keep it in your hands?????????"  
"I didn't want to be rude!" I hissed back.

"Ugh, Seven why did you make me so whiny? I don't sound like that when I talk, do I?"  
"Uh-- I--"

He didn't actually seem as bothered as I had thought he would be, or at least not as much as Seven had made it seem. He actually seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. Seven seemed tense and curious as to having his secret found out. He was sitting back in the chair, his legs open and relaxed as he sat next to me, his knee slightly touching mine comfortably. I was consciously aware of his contact but I tried to ignore it as much as humanly possible, curious as to what he'd do or say now.

"Yoosung, you're not mad?" he asked, like he had been asking a few times ever since the incident at the hotel.  
"I told you, why would I be? This is kinda cool. Eventhough you made me seem so young and whiny.... and honestly is that what you think I  
sound like??? Why would you think I would do this to a girl??? How did you even get someone with a voice like mine? I don't think I sound that bad.... or that feminine, do I?"  
"Wait how far along are you on this?????"  
"Day... uh..... 6?"  
"And you picked yourself?"  
"Yeah, i was curious. I mean, isn't this what you promised you'd make anyway? Should I not?"  
"Well I don't care, do whatever you want but.........................." Seven mumbled the last part, my hearing picking up him saying 'you're not gonna be happy........' and stayed quiet after that.

It was strange to see Seven so nervous. He was never serious or quiet, so I couldn't help but look at his face as he watched his friend. Then again I supposed that when we met he had told me his friends would all kill him if they ever found out about the existence of the game with their stories in it, or at least characters based on them and their stories. Yoosung heard Luciels half assed explanation and still didn't seem to care, eager for some entertainment. Seven assumed automatically, I figured, that it was due to the fact that he was still early on in the game for him to realize anything about what he spilled of him on his character.

I gulped.  
This was all my fault after all. I should have disabled the notifications.

It was the middle of the day, Saturday, a week after our meeting in the fancy hotel. Ever since then, Luciel has been stuck to me like glue whether I knew it or not. There had been a few occasions during the week when I was in school where I'd catch a glimpse of red hair as I grabbed my morning coffee or as I made my way down town. It was comforting and admittedly also really annoying.

Annoying because I would have preferred if he'd just come over and talk to me instead of hiding in the shadows as if it were really that cool. But  
I guessed he did it also to give me so privacy. Something I hadn't had at all for a while now.

"If I can see you anyway, what's the point of you hiding away? You're not sneaky."  
"You know, I actually am trying to conceal myself so you won't see me. You're the one that's probably looking for me in the crowds~" he'd say playfully, "Don't tell me you're falling for me already~~~~~~?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows in that comical cartoon-ish way. I swatted him in the arm automatically, hard enough to make him flinch visibly, trying to hide the blush in my face because he wasn't wrong. I really was looking for him.

The screen of my watch lit up and I realized I had a dinner to attend to.  
"I have to go." I said to Luciel, Yoosung turning up from his game.  
"Aww but you just got here not long ago." he said, not nearly as sad for me but mostly sad I was taking my phone with me, eventhough I had told him to download it on his own phone. I grabbed it as he handed it to me.  
"Yeah, but I've got somewhere to go. You guys have been eating up most of my time." I said to him playfully, him laughing charmingly.  
"I'll keep a good distance to let you enjoy dinner." Luciel said to me, standing up with me and grabbing his bag and throwing lazily over his  
shoulder. I sighed in exasperation. It was like talking to a wall.  
"OR you could just stop fuckin around and just come along. Like I said, I can see you. There's no point on pretending you aren't there."  
"Nah~ That's not gonna happen. It's better this way." he said to me.

I sighed heavily.

YEP. No point of arguing with him. I walked out of the room.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

  
"Are you gonna be alright driving home on your own?"  
"Yeah, I didn't drink anything, unlike you boozers."  
"You're missing out on all the good things in life."  
"I'll keep both my kidneys and liver, thanks."  
"Ugh, fuckin goodie two shoes, live a little!"  
"I am!"  
"Say hi to mom for us. We'll go over and see them soon."

After a typically overcrowded dinner with my sisters, I always felt a sense of peace and happiness. It was only 10:50pm so I took a longer walk than usual at the side of the crowded area near the Santa Monica Pier. It was lively and lovey, the feeling of the sea around the area, couples, families and friend groups out everywhere. I hardly had time to see my sisters since we were all so busy with our own lives. They had told me to dress up fancy casual, so I wore a sleeveless black dress with a cat bell choker necklace and black ballerina style wedges to match my dark make-up. It was a good choice, I told myself, because it showed off my tattoos, and I loved showing off my tattoos.

As I walked along the path towards the parking lot where my car was, I suddenly tensed up at the feeling of being followed. 

For a second, I told myself to calm down, that it was probably Seven, being extra creeper and trying to scare me. But as I thought about it, it dawned on me that Seven had apparently done as I had told him and left me a private moment with my family since I hadn't seen even a hint of his red hair and glasses anywhere for a few hours. I narrowed my eyes, looking around. There were few logical explanations to this but the most logical was the one that flashed back the memory of Seven telling me I was being followed. I didn't know by who but I was sure it had to do with RYSING.

As I walked by stores and people, I used to my advantage anything with a reflection. It was one thing I learned from learning survival skills on my own. I saw a man on a mirrored statue trying to appear casual as he trailed after me. To any other person he might seem perfectly normal. But I knew he was anything but. I began taking sharp turns in attempts to lose him, succeeding a few times before I realized he wasn't as dumb as I had thought. But then again, neither was I. Being paranoid in life brought me many gifts, including being able to identify strange auras and picking up on social situations, abnormal behavior and other kinds of psychological play, so it took no time for me to subtly observe this suspicious man, who unfortunately was quick on catching on to my plan and keeping a keen eye on me. My nerves were rattled at the thought of what could happen if this man caught me. I went inside a store and stayed there for a while, hoping that maybe he had enough shame to leave with the presence of so many people, but instead, he had the audacity to wait outside. It was seriously creepy.

And worse, I was alone.

Looking outside, I saw an opening in where I didn't see this strange man and quickly darted out, the parking lot with my car close by. The wedges were killing my feet at this point from walking around. But to my misfortune the strange man appeared right behind me, his steps loud enough for me to hear as his proximity increased behind me. There were significantly less people, because of the time, and around generally it was emptier around the parking lot area at this time, and so at this point the man seemed to throw caution out the window and defiantly stood in front of me. I breathed, looking at him as he looked at me with determination, as if he had won this battle.

"What do you want??" I asked dumbly knowing I'd get no answer, but just hoping there maybe could be someone else here. I've never been one to succumb to danger, so I quickly tried to see what I could do to paralyze this man, but was cut off as he made a dash for me. Gasping loudly, I moved out of the way, dropping my bag and phone. His face twisted in annoyance and he made a loud grunt as he once more tried to grab me, scratching my arm in the process but I was quick enough to dodge.  
"Did you think it would be that easy?" I said, tauntingly, a mistake I realized once the mans face turned to pure anger.  
"If you stay quiet, I promise I won't beat in that pretty face of yours." he said as if it were a compliment.  
"In your dreams, dick head." I said. This just made the man more angry and he dashed furiously for me. This time I could do nothing but try and dodge but failing miserably to do so as he grabbed me around the neck. I gasped in horror, trying to shake him off, telling myself to remember self defense class, but blanking out as he squeezed around my neck threatening to cut off my oxygen supply. Thinking quickly, I remembered Miss Congeniality, the scene where Sandra Bullock teaches the audience to "SING" if your attacker strikes from behind and I used every point to step on his foot, elbow him in the stomach, and punching him in the face, making him fall back in pain and clutch at his stomach, the tension and adrenaline making me fall to the floor on my knees as I tried to scramble away. I heard him cough loudly.

"You stupid bitch, I'm gonna kill you, I swear!" the man groaned in pain, rage in his face.  
Shit. This time I don't think I could be strong enough to beat him off.

"Who do you think you're calling a bitch, asshole??!" I heard that familiar voice say, quickly dashing in front of me, elbowing the man in the stomach again, making him fall back farther than I could achieve.  
"Seven.." I said silently.  
"You dare to hit a chick?? Fuckin gross. The lord will not approve!" Luciel said, standing infront of me. The man didn't seem discouraged but happy to see him.  
"I get to kill two birds with one stone then. Good. Extra pay for me." he told Luciel, dashing forward towards us.  
"As if it were that easy to capture me. Did you forget or has no one told you? I am God Seven!" Luciel said, dodging his every blow before swiftly punching the man in the face so hard and so painfully, he groaned loudly before falling to the floor, unconscious.

"Serves you right, you fuckin creep!" he said to the limp body in the floor.

This was the most cliche scene I had ever seen in my entire life, I thought to myself as Luciel turned to me, his hair messy, eyes beaming with heroism, and a worried expression in his face.  
"Are you alright, Aki?" he asked, offering me his hand, my heart suddenly felt like it skipped a beat.

_SO WHY DID I THINK IT WAS SO COOL??????????????????????_

"Yeah, I'm ok...........Where in the hell did you come from???" I asked, my face red, trying to desperately hide my hero complex.  
"Well, I was following you just fine after you left the restaurant up until some point you started walking really fast and I got stuck in a weird crowd of people, so I had to track you again from my computer~" he said walking over to me, picking up my bag and handing it to me, looking down at my legs which were stained from the blisters the wedges left.  
"You walk fast for someone in heels." he said bemusedly. I looked away, knowing my face was still heated up.  
"I was trying to lose that guy. Who in the devil is he?" I asked, finally relaxing.  
"This is one of the guys that have been following you for a few days now. I guess they're starting to take action...." he said with an annoyed look in his face as he looked down at the man in the floor, before turning back to me, the annoyance in his face softening only slightly.  
"I thought I told you to call me if you were in trouble. Why didn't you do so? You shouldn't be so careless." he scolded me. I scoffed.  
"He knocked my phone out of my hand, how was I supposed to call you?"  
"See this is what I mean about you and phones!"  
"I didn't do it on purpose!"  
"Anyway! In the future if you feel you're in danger, call me first! I'm serious. Don't just wait to see if you can take em on!" he scolded more. I walked past him in order to grab my phone from the floor, the MM notification happening a few seconds before I reached for it. I glared at it. This was Yoosungs game now.  
"I didn't know it was gonna happen....." I said mostly to myself, glaring at the phone in my hands, the reality that if Seven hadn't been there, things could have been very dangerous for me. Or him. I turned up and looked at him as he stared at me calmly, as if he's been through this a thousand times. That scared me most of all.

"Thank you." I said, breaking the silence between us. He blinked, a surprised look in his face. I thought for a moment that, perhaps, we both realized this was the first time since we met, since he's been trailing after me, looking out to see if I was safe, that I had said thank you. He smiled.

"You're welcome." he said, that same calm sweet smile in his face, and that same skip of a beat in my heart happened, before his smile turned to that permanent mischievous and mocking grin he has. Ugh.  
"Don't tell me you're going soft on me already, Miss Hard boiled." He teased, walking up to me.  
"YOU ALWAYS MANAGE TO RUIN THINGS." I said, storming off to my car, him trailing behind me in a fit of laughter.  
"C'mon Akiiiiiiiii~~~~~~~"  
"Stop calling me that! Since when did you think we were close or something?!"  
"You like me, You know you doooooo~~~~~~"

I quickly got on my car, drove off and left him right there, yelling "Hey! RUDE."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you manage to read to this point and you still don't hate this fic, thank you. I'm happy if there is anyone at all besides the person who I'm writing this story for, likes my story. I know it's all over the place because I never really correct my drafts, but to the very sweet fighter61998 who encouraged me in my last chapter, thank you so much for your words. I'm not very confident in my writing at all if that wasn't already obvious, so I never try to write anything seriously. But I really would like to finish this story in a proper way to relay the message I got from both the game and the characters in my plot. Sooooooo that was cheesyyyy~ Let's get back to hating me and my awful attempts at things 8D


	9. ROGUE.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Akira and Yoosung almost have a date. Also Seven isn't jealous.....Or is he? Jaehee talks more. Jumin breaks stereotypes and isn't "daddy" but more like an actual father. Cars. And Akira admits what we all already know.

I still kept looking over my shoulder.

During school, I made sure that I was never alone for any reason. It almost seemed paranoid, in fact, I caught the worried glances of my friends to my sudden paranoia. I mean, they knew I was paranoid, but they apparently had never seen me this paranoid.

It was obvious I was a bit afraid,

The only comfort I had was catching sight of Luciel. He stayed away mostly after I left him alone in the parking lot, but I constantly looked over at him if I saw him as I grabbed my food or grabbed coffee with friends, and he'd reassuringly look back, as if telling me it was ok. There was an occasion when I caught him confront another suspicious man, apparently successfully scaring him away.

He was my only comfort.

Yoosung got my number, I assume from Luciel. I had picked up the phone and was surprised to hear his voice on the other side.   
"What are you up to right now, Akira?" he said to me.   
"I was just about to meet up with a friend. Why?" I said, pressing the phone to my ear as I looked for a notebook. I was supposed to lend my notes to a friend after all.   
"Aww, I was hoping you'd be free so you could come with me." he admitted.   
"Well I actually wasn't planning on staying long with my friend. It's just studying. So we can meet after if you'd like?" I asked him, sitting on my bed. He groaned lowly, apparently unhappy with my answer.   
"But I wanted you to show me around L.A. It's my first time here after all. And what better way than to have a person who knows the way around to show you right? hehe.." he admitted. I smiled. Poor guy, he must be bored of just being indoors with Jumin. At least, if he really is like game Jumin. Work, work, work, work.   
"It's that torturous to be following Jumin around, huh?" I voiced my thoughts outloud. He groaned more.   
"YES. God. If I so much as hear another schedule, I'll probably go rob a bank or something to get back home on my own."  
I giggled.   
"Alright, alright, God. If you're that bored, then I can show you around. I just have to drop off the notes to my friend." I said to him.   
"Good. I can take you there then. I'm already parked outside." he said to me, hanging up without giving me an option. What the hell? As my   
phone hovered still close to my ear, I walked over to my window, and there he was, indeed, parked accross the street infront of my house.

"What in the world???" I said outloud to no one in particular. I hurriedly grabbed my bag and grabbed a sweater, before running to the kitchen. My parents had gone out for the day I think, so I left them a note in the board of my room to let them know where I'd be, quickly putting my boots on and dashing out the door. Yoosung smiled at me as I walked up to him.   
"Akira!" he said, waving slightly and a charming smile in his face.   
He was fantastic looking. Obviously not a natural blonde, I could see the roots in his hair, but it didn't matter too much. the color could have passed for natural anyway. He wore a white T-shirt and a pair of fitting dark blue jeans. He dressed alot more chic than I had assumed real Yoosung would do but it was pleasant, it accentuated his broad shoulders and long neck. He definitely could pass for a model, or at least a K- Pop group member. I approached him and his car.   
"Hi~" he said.   
"Hiya." I said.   
"Hi~~~~~~~~~~~~~" said a third person and I jumped slightly, seeing Luciel pop up from behind Yoosungs car. Yoosung and I both turned to look at him,   
shocked.   
"Seven?? What are you doing here??" Yoosung asked him, his face surprised.   
"What in the world are _YOU_ doing here, Yoosung????" he asked him.   
"Seven where did you even come from???" I asked incredulously.   
"Akira was gonna show me around LA. I've been here a few times but never enough to check around properly." he said to him. Luciel nonchalantly stood there, looking at his phone.  
"Well sorry kids but you'll have to post-pone your date for a little~~~~ we've got business to take care of." he said teasingly, sending Yoosung an approving look. I couldn't believe my ears.

I mean..... was he blind?   
I was obviously interested in Seven, not Yoosung.

I tried to tell myself it was because of my affections for the character in the game and though he was written quite similar to real Seven, he was different. It was different with him than the rest. Or was he just this oblivious? Even so, I was so paralyzingly afraid all this time he'd catch my interest that I couldn't say what I felt. Rejection has always been one of my worst fears, after all.   
"It's not a date, hyung. Don't get jealous." Yoosung said, crossing his arms, pouting childishly. Luciel laughed.   
"Me??? Jealous????? Of what??? Why would you think that????" he said, half laughing still as he spoke.

W O W.   
I laughed though. I laughed because otherwise I would have to cry. I of course knew the interest was not at all mutual, and from the unbothered look on his face, never would be.  
"Don't listen to him too much, Yoosung." I said, patting Yoosung in the shoulder.  
"Akira you--"  
"What are you _really_ doing here, Seven? Like I said before, your presence is never good news anymore." I said, childishly. I wasn't angry, but I was a little hurt so I used words to get a little payback.   
"Ouch. That's so cruel of you to say! Is that how you say thank you to your protec-"  
"Yes, Yes, to God Seven, to my protector, to the defender of justice. Blah blah, I heard ya. Answer the damn question!" I said. He only looked at me, amused.   
"Why are you mad????" he asked.   
"I'm not!"  
"Yes you are! You so obviously are!"  
"I'm not oh my go-- Just answer! Sheesh!" I asked.

There was no need for anyone to say anything after that, seeing three town cars pulling up, sleek and shiny and obviously expensive. The three of us had turned to see, watching as Jumin, Jaehee and Zen got out of the cars. Luciel turned back to look at me.   
"We need to have a little meeting before you kids can run off to play." he said.

Sigh.

I led the way as they all scrambled into my living room. Jumin's face looked as poker faced as ever, however there was a sligt annoyance in his eyebrows. Before Luciel could sit down, Jumin spoke up.   
"I should have brought my lawyer to this meeting since you're here, Luciel." he said. Luciel's eyebrow twitched.   
"Why is that?" he asked innocently. Jumin picked out his phone from his pocket and opened up the uber familiar application. I froze, and Seven visibly tensed.   
"You didn't think I would find out? Admittedly, it took me a while to realize why I couldn't have access to this particular application, but since I went out of my way to check it out, I'm glad I did. I hope you're prepared to pay a very hefty sum for using a personal likeness as a base for a fictional character for exploitive purposes." he said coldly, sitting down in the couch. I gulped.   
"Wahhhhhhhh~~~~~ This is all your fault Akira! I told you to keep my secret!" he said, not feeling a single bit as actually threatened as he should be. I was beginning to think he wasn't so much afraid of an actual lawsuit but of Jumin's wrath.   
"How did you find out about it?" I asked dumbly. The answer was obvious.   
"T-That's was probably because of me...." Yoosung said.   
"What?! Yoosung what did you do????? What did we talk about?!!?!" Luciel said, turning to him much quicker than a normal person would.   
"Ehhhhh it's just a dating sim. What's the big deal money bags?" Zen said, taking out his phone.   
"It's a little embarrassing but I guess it's pretty interesting." Jaehee said, looking down at her own phone. I came to a shocking realization.  
"Wait are you ALL playing the game?????" Luciel said outloud, speaking for the both of us in asking the question I was tempted to ask.   
"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I was curious after seeing Yoosung play and then he told us we were all in this game so I got it too." Zen said, scrolling through the days. "So far I don't get it too much. But of course, I'm hoping I get me, because why would you want anyone else." he said, winking at me. I remained unaffected and looked over to Jumin, in disbelief he'd be playing this.   
"Jumin... Are you also playing it???" I asked.   
"I don't have time to be playing games. If anything, I'm having an employee go through it in order to inform me how much of my image was used."  
"Aww c'mon hyung! It's pretty funny! You should see what Seven put for my route!"   
"Route? Is that what you call them?" Jaehee said, interested.   
"Yeah, Akira showed me how it works." he said excitedly.

My ears were burning by this point. This was definitely not a conversation I'd ever thought I'd have. Ever.

"Ah, I see. Hey! Akira who's, uh, route did you get first?? Me right??" Zen asked, excitedly.   
"I actually did get yours first." I said, relaxing a little. I mean, what's the worse thing that could happen? Zen looked ecstatic. His ego definitely was game Zen sized.   
"But of course you'd aim for the main route, the only route that truly matters~~~ So what happened? Did you marry me?" he asked randomly. I blushed. He was so gorgeous, you say no to that face!   
"U-UH. Actually--"  
"Ahem. Anyway. If you guys want to continue having this discussion, do it on your own time. We've got something to discuss." Jumin said, bringing Zen back to reality.   
"Oh right. Sorry." he said.   
"Luciel informed me that a few days ago, someone attacked Akira directly in a parking lot." Jumin stated. It appeared as if neither Zen or Yoosung knew, since their faces where the only ones that seemed shocked.   
"If I hadn't found them in time, who knows what could've happened to Aki." Luciel said outloud.   
"How in the world did this happen?" Yoosung asked.   
"It appears as, since they know they can't hurt us as directly, they pay no mind to hurting or taking Akira by force. No one knows who she is, no one apart from us know she's involved. I believe they might be using her to send us a message, and of course, this message is not a good message." Jaehee said, grimace obviously in her tone.   
"You don't think they'd.... try to kill me or something?" I asked, fear in my voice.   
"I'm afraid that's the only plans they have for any of us. But you're the most vulnerable of us all." Jumin said, looking at me with a sympathy game Jumin probably never would have. I hate that the word vulnerable was used in a sentence to describe me, but I knew he was right. Everyone stayed silent for just a second. It seemed eternal so I broke the silence myself instead of waiting.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked no one in particular.   
"That's why we came today." Jumin said, "We may have a temporary solution to this problem. There's only three weeks left before the deal is done between my company and the American company we're making business with. It's apparently not enough to have bodyguards trailing after you to protect you, I believe the only thing we can do for you until then is change your location." he said as if it were the simplest of solutions.

"Change locations? I can't move, you know. I don't have that kind of money. And no, I will not accept yours." I said quickly.   
"Of course not. You'd only be moving around with us for as long as we're here. It's simple. I've already booked different hotels for each of us. You'll stay with Jaehee first since you're both women. Zen and Yoosung after, then with me. We're hoping that once we all head back to Korea, they will naturally assume you'll be coming along with us and successfully mislead them into forgetting you. Luciel has already infiltrated all personal data information available to mislead them away from your whereabouts." he said. In all that he said, I noticed that Luciel's name was not in the list. I took a quick glance at him but didn't make the show it made a difference.  
"I have alot of work to do so you can't stay with me, but like always, I'll be guarding you at all times." he said looking at me, that same smile on his face. I smiled in return before turning back to Jumin.   
"I'm very sorry you guys have to go through all this trouble." I told him. He simply smiled.   
"I accept your apology. I don't mind what we're doing to keep you safe. After all, you didn't ask for this to happen. But I hope you take this whole situation as a lesson to not follow the words of strangers."   
  
He _really_ will never let me live it down.

I heard the sound of the MM notification suddenly, Yoosung excitedly taking out his phone.   
"Ahhhhh chatroom!" he said. It was almost sickening how into it he got.   
"You do realize you're dating yourself, right Yoosung??" Zen said. Jumin face palmed.   
"Well who did you pick????"  
"Like, I said, the only route that matters is Zen's, so I naturally picked that one."  
"Then you realize you're also dating yourself, right?" Yoosung said, a wicked evil grin in his face. It played at odds with his normally sweet demeanor.

"I guess with this nonsense we have an agreement?" Jaehee said to Jumin, who rubbed his forehead slightly.   
"I suppose we do. Let's head back to the hotel. You need to grab your things Assistant Kang." Jumin told her, crossing his arms.   
"Akira, I've already made sure to notify your parents about this. Please prepare a bag." he said to me.   
"How?? When did this happen?"   
"I'll explain later. We have to split up by tonight." he said, turning around and heading towards the door. Everyone followed suit so I walked with them until we reached the cars. As I saw Jumin, Zen and Jaehee disappear into the back seat of a car, Yoosung walked over to me.   
"I guess we won't have time to go check out around today. Let's definitely do that another day ok?" he said to me, walking over to the car he had brought himself. Just as I was about to reply, I felt an arm around my shoulders.   
"Booooooo Jumin's plans cancelled your date~ Better reschedule kids~" he said teasingly, before letting me go and disappearing off into an unknown direction.

I was beginning to think he was doing that on purpose.

"Akira, are you alright with him being like that? I mean-....." Yoosung asked me in concern. If anything, I had thought that Yoosung would be an oblivious guy. Instead, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he understood what I felt for Luciel. I closed my eyes for a second.   
"I'm fine. I don't think it matters to anyway." I cut him off.

Seven followed me the rest of that day without saying a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters are a litttttleeee bit shorter because I'm trying to get it to a certain point and I'm struggling to get it there without details. It's all about the details peopleeeeeeee. I've always hated romance that gets to romance so fast but I'm doing just that. Ugh. I have betrayed my morals. *slams head on wall* ANYWAY. Please excuse my poor grammar and lame attempts at humor. Ah. Haha. Ahahaha. Ha. 
> 
> (BTW, I'm seriously sorry about the titles of each chapter but.... they are destined to be named as such. THey're ok RN, but later on oh boy, they'll probably be named something strange AF lol)


	10. Earth Meets Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Seven is a cockblock part 2, Akira is delusional apparently (Or is she?) Zen is the same in every universe. Bikes. Feelings. And Jaehee is the mother you've all always wanted.

I sat comfortably at one of the few chairs for the small hotel room.

After we had our impromptu meeting at my house a few hours behind, it didn't take a long time, maybe four hours to be exact, before one of Jumin's cars came to pick me up. With a bag packed carelessly, not seeing a point to carrying around too many clothes, I headed to the kitchen were my parents had been sitting, letting them know I'd be leaving on what Jumin had said he explained ot them as a "Business opportunity for a promising company." The pride in their eyes made me feel guilty for lying but, it was either that or staying here knowing I would rather take every bullet myself than have anything happen to them. Jumin promised absolute but discreet protection for them while I moved around. At one point as the driver opened the door of Jumin's town car for me, I looked over and saw one particularily fancy car, a glimpse of red hair and shiny glasses before it turned on unexpectedly and drove away like all hell broke loose. I sighed. He wasn't avoiding me, he had been out there and been as normal as always.

So why did I feel like he was acting strangely?

Eventually, I ended up with Jaehee alone at the Plaza La Reina, a small but luxurious hotel near to where Jumin had originally been staying himself. It wasn't as fancy, but it was small and extremely private. I was told by Jaehee when I had arrived that it was so exclusive, it was difficult to book a room in general let alone two. Surprisingly, it was a simple place, one that was much more comfortable than the fancy private rooms of the hotel Jumin stayed in in Beverly Hills. Small enough to be comfortable, there was even a kitchen, with simple but tasteful furniture and a nice view. I tried to make myself comfortable, but it was difficult with Jaehee working dilligently. I assumed that real Jaehee worked just  
as much as game Jaehee. I decided to venture out and ask. At least try to be friendly or something. She was sitting in a comfortable chair near the window while I sat on her bed. I wasn't in my own room on her request, but since she wasn't saying too much I had be the one to venture out.

"So, Miss Jaehee.." I started, feeling nervous in case she thought I was disrespectful, "Is working for Jumin a difficult job?" I asked. She arranged some papers and put them down, glancing at me with a poker face.  
"Jaehee is fine. No need for honorifics. Mr. Han is a very generous employer. It's only natural he'd be demanding. In other words to answer your question, it can be challenging but nothing I can't handle." she said with a smile on her face, the face of a strong, independent woman. From the looks of it she and Jumin got along much better than Jumin and Jaehee in the game. She grabbed her phone and saw the MM app herself, curious.  
"Then again, Luciel wasn't far off in the sort of crazy amounts of work he sometimes gives. Not to mention the exaggeration of Mr. Hans affection for his cat." she said. I giggled a bit, and she looked at me, finally letting a relaxed smile appear on her face.

"How do you like this place? If there's anything that you need, I can let Mr. Han know right away." she said.  
"My god, are you serious? I'm honestly scared he'll send me a bill at some point. This is more than enough." I said to her, her laughter filling the room.  
"Mr. Han doesn't seem to mind that much, honestly. He doesn't seem to care too much for money. He just knows he has it, and lots of it, so he wastes it leisurely." she states.  
"Ah, that must be nice. How about you Jaehee? Do you get any time off?" I ask her, curious as to what her real situation is like.  
"I get a yearly vacation of one month. It was part of my contract. In exchange for practically running Mr. Han's life, he at no excuse whatsoever has to let me be free for one full month." she said happily. I smiled.  
"Good."  
"By the way Akira, there's something I must let you know." she said, suddenly leaning forward, her legs crossed elegantly.  
"Oh yeah? What's that?" I asked curiously.  
"I should let you know that because of the gravity of our situation, and I mean this in all due respect of course, that I really hope you consider the consequences of getting involved with one of the members of our group." she stated calmly. Once again i was taken a back by the similarities of the game and reality. Jaehee was a person who saw things much quicker than the rest, it seems. Or maybe she in reality shared my same state of paranoia. But I was a bit confused as to how she noticed.  
"What do you mean?" I asked, not even believing it myself in asking such an obvious question.  
"I know Yoosung went to see you this afternoon much earlier than any of us. He's young and though he's sought after alot, he hasn't had a real girlfriend for a while. So he got excited with you, seeing he had nothing to hide in your sudden involvement. Please consider your feelings wisely before pursuing him." she said, almost motherly. I sighed in relief at her words though.  
"Oh, that. You don't have to worry about that. I have no interest in Yoosung and I don't think he's interested in me in that way either." I answered her, not bothering to explain that I was interested in Seven instead.  
"That's great to know. Honestly, it would just make your life alot more complicated than it should be. Trust me, I should know." she said, pleased with my answer. She stood up suddenly, her hands on her waist.  
"Alright. It's time for us to get some rest. Why don't you head out to your room? Unless you'd feel more comfortable staying here with me." she said. I smiled at her, standing up myself.  
"Nah, I'll let you get some rest. Thanks for everything, Jaehee. "

"I'm giving you a 7 o'clock wake up call tomorrow so we can drop you off at University before I head off to Mr. Han's breakfast meeting." she said to me as I walked out of her room.  
"Alright, thank you." I said, walking to the room next door and slipping inside. As soon as I went in, I turned on the lamp on the bedside, plugged my phone in and looked at the contact number for Luciel. There was a ding from my phone and I realized that it was a message, from none other than him, too.

"Speak of the devil..." I said outloud, smiling.

_[ **SEVEN (October 19,12:45 AM)** : Heyaaaaa~~~~ Eventhough I didn't have alot of time to talk to you today, I hope you had a good day. Did you _  
_miss me? I'm sure you did~~~ Jumin might've ruined your night out with Yoosung but I'm sure he'll ask you again so don't worry too much._  
_Yoosung is a nice guy but I would be careful of his gaming addiction._  
_**SEVEN (October 19 12:46 AM):** He's not as addicted to LOL as Yoosung in MM is with LOLOL but he might still ditch you for a night of fun in _  
_that sense. And speaking of, I really hope you're not awake right now to read this, other wise we will have to go through a great Finnish_  
_tradition._  
_**SEVEN (October 19, 12:47 AM)** : What Tradition is that, you ask? National Sleepy head day of course! It's supposed to be only once a year, I _  
_think, but I might make an exception if you wake up late. Just so you get to bed earlier, know it's traditional throwing the last person to wake up_  
_in a home into the river~~~_  
_**SEVEN (October 19, 12:50 AM)** :You better go to sleep alright? Don't let me catch you yawning tomorrow~ Ok?? Let's meet in our dreams, _  
_Goodnight~ ]_

I giggled loudly after reading his series of random tweets. He was full of random trivia and idiotic notions, just like game Seven, I couldn't help think it was adorable. I was half tempted to text back but decided against it. Knowing him, it wasn't a threat I'd be thrown into, if not a river, some sort of of body of water.

Making myself more comfortable, I looked out the window and saw a waning moon.

Even if he isn't interested, I can always just admire him from afar, in a platonic stance. And as I drifted off to sleep, I knew he would be in my  
dreams anyway.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Just as promised, Jaehee woke me up bright and early, an hour earlier than had said originally too, at 6am sharp. She had knocked on my door and as soon as I had opened it, she asked me to join her for a quick breakfast al fresco, in the roof of the place. I told her I'd meet her there after I was done and closed the door, running to my bed and groaning loudly. Who in the hell wakes up this early on purpose??????

Apparently Jaehee does....................

As we sat eating a quick breakfast consisting of an assortment of fruits, toast, jam and coffee, she explained to me that she'd send my things over to the next location I would be staying in. I was glad I didn't pack more than necessary in order to avoid further trouble and she assured me, again, it wasn't trouble. It was almost frustrating they'd be nice to me, honestly. I sort of wish they'd be more mad at my stupidity. Apart from Jumin, I felt their behavior towards the situation was unnatural. They shouldn't be so accepting. But then again, I assumed it was because they had done a thorough investigation on me that they felt bad since I wasn't extraordinary like them to rely on myself to survive.

I refused entirely to have Jumin's drivers drive me around, but they insisted it would be wasted effort on their part to have me driving around myself what with what had happened in the parking lot, so I begrudgingly agreed in the condition to be dropped at a safe distance in order not to draw unwanted attention at school.

I sighed in my seat the rest of the day, the most normal setting now being classes and studying with my friends.

After school though, it was a completely different story. After a difficult exam and a session of how badly did we fuck up with my friends, I was ready to crash from exhaustion but instead was faced with a small cluster of people at a particular spot right outside near the entrance to the main building of my school. I was just about to ask what the fuss was all about when suddenly, I spotted that uber familiar silver hair, that impressive height and that absolutely stunning face in the middle of the small crowd. Of course it would be Zen.

"Are you some sort of actor or model?" a random girl asked him. Zen looked at her, completely chill and cool.  
"Ah, how did you figure?" he asked, as if it was the most shocking thing in the world. He was very natural around people, answering questions  
and talking, entirely extroverted.  
"How can you not be with a face like that?" someone said to him and he laughed his charming low and sexy laugh.  
"Was that a guy who just said that?! Thanks for the compliment, man." he said, making everyone around him laugh. I face palmed, wondering if I could slip away before he noticed I was there but to my misfortune, he turned at just the right time, his eyes landing on me.

"Oh! Princess!" he said. I was half hoping, half wishing he was not talking to me. Why in the world would he say that?! I walked away as if he wasn't, in fact, speaking to me in that game Zen sort of tone, but it was futile, him following me.  
"Hey, hey hey! Don't walk away! Didn't you hear me?" he asked. The crowd behind him began to disperse, a few jealous daggers being shot in my direction from a few girls.  
"Well my name is not 'Princess' so how was I supposed to know you were talking to me?" I said halting my movements, not nearly as annoyed as I seemed. It wasn't that I enjoyed his obviously flirty nick, but mostly, him just being Zen was hell entertaining.  
"Ok, honestly, I don't really go and tell people random nicks of that kind but that damn game got to me." he said. He was wearing a tight black shirt, accentuating his obviously ripped bod. It was hard to ignore him, white fitted jeans, black combat boots. His silver hair and his reddish eyes, he stood out like a sore thumb, and from the way the crowd gathered around to compliment him with their stares, he loved it. I laughed.  
"Oh, I made you smile. Well at least one good thing came out of this." he said to me. I rolled my eyes.  
"You sure it's all the games fault? That was terrible." I said.  
"Agh Goddamn it. I'm gonna kill Seven." he said his hands in his head dramatically, "Anyway, Akira. my motorcycle is nearby, you're coming with me today." he said, pointing his thumb behind him.  
"Whoa whoa whoaaaaa hold up. I've never gotten on a motorcycle before. Can't we take public trans?" I asked, my hands in front of me defensively.  
"Those pretty tattoos on your arm say you've gotten on a bike before. Hell, they say you probably have a bike like mine." he said, scooting up closer to me, a smirk in his face in that flirtatious confident manner. It was getting to me, it was hard for it not to with a face like that.  
"Tattoos don't mean you love danger, you know." I said backing up a step.  
"C'mon Akira, it'll be fun~ Don't worry, I'll protect you, I swear~" he said, smiling, reassuringly.  
"How would you protect me from death, Zen??? That doesn't make sense!" I said. He laughed a hearty laugh.  
"Ok, you got me there, but you still have to get on the bike with me, it's our only way out of here." he said, crossing his arms.  
"Actually, it's not." I heard that familiar third voice say once more. I turned to find Luciel walking towards us.  
"Oh, Seven~ What are you doing here?" Zen asked, greeting him warmly.  
"Luciel..." I said dumbly. He smiled that warm smile he has.  
"Yo~~~"  
"Ya, are you ignoring me?" Zen asked.  
"Aki, you can come with me, Zen can go in his bike." Luciel said to me.  
"Hey! I went out of my way to come get her. If you wanted to do it, you should've told me!" Zen said, his hand in a fist, shaking it comically at Luciel who didn't even flinch.  
"You snooze you lose, hyung!" he said to him, grabbing my hand and dragging me away with him, completely unaware of what effect his touch had on me.  
"SEVEN!"  
"Let's go somewhere really cool for a little bit. I found just the place~~~" Luciel said to me, ignoring all of Zens shouts at us.  
"Where is it?" I asked, feeling bad for Zen.  
"Follow me, you'll see...." he said mysteriously.

I would've gone to the end of the earth with this stupid jerk.  
Too bad he wouldn't do the same for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost there. Almossssssssssstttttttttttt there. Ugh Building relationships slowly kills me because I want them to be together for a proper meaningful reason, but at the same time, I want to throw them in a room together and have them make beautiful babies. I hate my life. I hate me. I ALSO HATE HOW SLOW THIS IS GOING. Butttttttt if things go as planned, this story actually won't be as long as I had originally thought. We'll see................


	11. Russian Roulette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In wich Zen is the next Dr. Phil, Akira teaches you about gangs and Seven is the worst romantic in the world. Drinking. Fish. Also more places in LA you should A.) Never visit and B.) never need to know about.

In dramas and movies, when a man steals the main female lead from another guy, promising to show them a secret place, the first things that come to mind are romantic. A beautiful park get-away, a lake house, a romantic cafe. It's all cheesy.

In this case, being in L.A, there was the Griffith observatory, especially since Seven likes science and space and all. Maybe my delusions where getting the best of me in the end, but that's all I pictured.

What I did not picture was this.  
"How did you even find this place.....?" I asked, pushing a plastic bag across the muddy water with a long wooden stick. Seven sat still, a stick of his own in hand with a long string attached to it's end.   
"I don't know, I was just curious and heard someone talk about it while I was looking for food~" he said, tugging a bit, looking over at me. I cringed visibly noticing the large amount of flies around this area. I'm not cringe-y entirely. But this was too much trash even for me.

It was the L.A river. Now, to alot of people it sounds exactly like it is, a river in Los Angeles. In reality, the L.A River is a long concrete water control 'river' that, with the drought in California, was 95% dry. There were only a few places where the 'river' had a flow of water deeper than waist deep. The place where we currently sat by was in the dead center of gang territory, too. They say that they've even killed people around here for giving them a 'look'...........

This was not at all what I had expected.

"Seven what are we doing here??" I asked, cautiously looking over my shoulder. Seven was concentrated, but upon hearing me, he inhaled deeply, as if he were surrounded by a deep forest instead of the collective smell of LA's trash.   
"Ahhhhh~~~ It's kinda awesome to find nature in the middle of a concrete jungle, don't you think Aki???" he said. I was confused to say the very least.   
"What in the world are you talking about? There's no nature here. This was all man made, you know..." I replied.   
"I heard from a new friend of mine that there are fish in this river." he said.   
"Fish????? Here????? But this place is garbage." I replied, shaking the stick with the bag around. He smiled, looking around again. It was strange, he seemed so perfectly content.   
"I like it here. It kinda reminds me of me." he said.   
"..........so garbage...?" I said, teasing him.   
"Hey! Who's the one who's trash for my game???? Hmmm????" he said, glancing, that familiar teasing smirk in his lips. We shared a laugh and he put the stick down, securing it with a rare rock before sitting down properly.   
"It's sacrilege. Humanity has always spread like a virus through the world. The concrete jungle instead of an actual jungle, just so we can be comfortable instead of taking care of nature like we're supposed to. A place like this reminds me of the irony of it all. Just like me. The defiling of life just to place something right smack in the middle with a natural name. And a Child who was conceived out of an act of love but....." he said   
absentmindedly before stopping. I looked at him, wondering where this came from. Seven isn't emotional. Hell, apart from his poker face I hadn't seen anything else.

So why was he doing this now...?   
"But?"  
"But nothing haha, I just got weird there. Sorry about that, Aki." he said, turning to me with a poker smile, the smile he makes when his hearts not in it, I realized.   
"You don't have to keep it to yourself, you know. I don't mind hearing you out."  
"I know you don't. That's why I won't say anything." he said, the same Luciel from always returning.   
"You're acting just like I expected, you know. I hope this doesn't mean you're falling for me or something." I said to him, trying to lighten up the mood. But he didn't move. He didn't do anything at that point but stare right ahead.   
"Akira, are you sure you don't want to just leave?" he said, ignoring my comment entirely.   
"Leave? What do you mean?" I asked curiously.   
"Yeah. I could help you start a new life, away from this situation. You and your family wouldn't have to run, we'd make sure you guys are never found." he said, looking at me finally. There was something in his normally comically beautiful face that I couldn't quite grasp. I just stared at him, conscious of his presence, his normally serene aura giving off a vibe that I didn't understand. A vibe that was alarming. He was pushing me away.

"Luciel. Even if I run, I can't forget this happened. I hope you know that now." I said sternly, trying to make him understand. No matter what I did, I could never forget I met him. In his eyes, I saw him realize the meaning of my words. He looked away and laughed, instead of reacting how I wanted him to. It was a strange feeling because I understood why he did it. I wanted to ask him more. I was about to, when suddenly, we both heard a noise, simultaneously looking around. The stick he had placed in the water moved violently, and Seven's burst out into a sunny smile.

"AHA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!" he said, reaching for it.   
"What the hell?!?!?!" I said, standing up next to him, looking down at the muddy water, seeing as he pulled.   
"This is a fat one! I can feel it, Aki~~~~~~!!!!!!" he said excitedly. He pulled with enough strength to lure whatever was in there in, and I'm awful because I was hoping he had hooked himself an old boot or something stereotypical like a shirt or something in the river but was left in awe as I saw a shiny silver-ish fish emerge from the water. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"You're kidding!" I said, gasping.   
"I told you there were fish here!!!!! C'mon help me!" he said, pulling it towards him, but I stayed still.   
"No! Put it back in the water, what are you gonna do with it?!" I said.   
"I'm just gonna look at it! C'mon don't be mean!"  
"Alright, alright, god!" I said, not believing he couldn't pull the damn thing on his own. I placed my hands on the stick, right above Sevens hands but without touching him. I pulled and just as I had thought, there was no actual resistence from the fish, luring it quickly and easily. Seven stood behind me at this point, easily pulling with me.

"Who the fuck are you????" we heard suddenly. We turned around at the same time, feeling myself freeze at feeling Sevens cheek on my head, his arms comfortably around me. He looked at whoever approached us confusedly, seeing a group of four intimidating shiny bald headed guys with over sized shorts and cortez shoes. I gulped, knowing full well this was not good.

"Where you from, homie?" he asked, looking at us.  
"I'm from Korea, how about you?" he answered sarcastically.   
"Hear that man? home boy thinks he's funny." he asked the guys in the back who just laughed. I was afraid. I was scared. I was mortified. This   
is how people end up dead, what the hell was Seven thinking?!?!?!?!

"Fella's we gotta show this fuckin chili what's funny as fuck."

Frozen for a second, Seven tried not to seem afraid but seeing the threatening stance of these guys, his eyebrow twitched slightly.

He turned to me quickly.   
"AKI RUN."

I DID NOT NEED TO BE ASKED TWICE.

  
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

 

"I don't look at myself in the mirror _that_ much........" Zen whispered to himself, his phone in hand.

Eventually, I ended up with Zen in the hotel he was assigned to by Jumin. It was a much simpler hotel but still with enough commodity. I assumed this was picked out by Zen himself since, though nice and well furnished, it was more modest than the other hotels so far, a smaller but still well known hotel from the Marriott chain. This room was very bright with white and black furniture but a dominating aqua color, a nice view and lots of amenities. I laughed at Zen playing his route. Of course he would. I was glad he had cheered up quickly. After Luciel dropped me off with Zen in this particular hotel, Zen was obviously angry he was ditched after he had gone through the trouble to go and escort me. I felt extremely bad. I felt like a total asshole for ditching him just because Luciel said so. I noticed how irrationally and emotionally I was behaving when Luciel was involved, making a mental note to avoid doing that in the future. But Zen saw my sorry expression and decided to forgive me. He had walked forward and placed his hand on my head, being obviously much taller than me. "Hey, it's ok. I'm sorry I almost forced you into something you weren't comfortable doing." he had told me. But he was not as easy on Luciel as he had been on me, scolding him harshly. Luciel had just laughed and mocked Zen, just like usual. As I was about to walk in with Zen, Luciel had stopped me and said something that even know from my spot in Zen's room, I couldn't forget.

_"About that stuff I said at the river....Just forget I said anything alright?"_

How did he expect me to forget it. I was curious about Luciel's story now. Was it as tragic as his story in the game? Had he lost his brother? Did he have a politician father who wanted him dead? Did his mother abuse and hurt him and his brother when they were younger? Was the organization so dangerous he could never use his real name? But he had told me his real name right away. Saeyoung. I remembered because he told me that name first out of all his nicknames on our first encounter. I wanted to ask him, know more things about him and his real life, if it was like his characters or at least similar. So far, it had seemed like all of their traits matched up.

"--kira, are you listening?" Zen's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, making me turn to look at him, the hotel's phone in hand.   
"Oh, Sorry Zen. I was out of it. What happened?" I asked, embarrassed. He didn't seem to mind and continued.   
"I was just asking if you were hungry, because I'm hungry but I'd rather get a beer downstairs. Wanna come?" he asked me. Since I had been so rude to him, I decided to join him.

"Sure."

 

Six beer's later and I forgot what the hell was in my brain and just let loose entirely. Zen was laughing hilariously.

  
"And then he pulled the damn thing out of the river!!"  
"What in the hell was he thinking?????" Zen snorted out laughing, his beer in hand. I giggled.   
"That's not even the worse part, Oh my god, these dudes almost killed us."  
"No way."  
"Way! And Seven is a total dumbass! Like, in Cali, it's common knowledge you're not supposed to answer someone when they ask you where you're from!" I said, turning fully to him. I knew I would regret all of this in the morning, but at the moment, I was Chatter Box personified.   
"Why the hell not?? What's wrong with it????"  
"Because when they ask you that, they're not asking you where you're _from_ from, but like what _gang_ you're from, so if you answer anything besides 'no where' they're gonna kick your ass automatically!"  
"What did Seven say?????"  
"HE SAID HE WAS FROM KOREA."  
"Oh my fuckin god, what a moron!!!!!!"

Zen and I laughed comically, recalling what had happened today. I don't remember Seven saying this was a secret that in my buzzed stupor I might've forgotten not to mention, but my head was dancing in happiness. Alcohol was definitely doing things to my head, but I wasn't a light weight drinker, so I was able to maintain a somewhat stable mindset. From the looks of it, neither was Zen. If anything, he looked happy to be able to grab a drink.

"Anyway, Aki. I'm glad you're safe and all. But can I ask why you decided to go with him?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, like, I was right there, with this gorgeous face and all. I can't believe you'd pick him over me. Don't you think I'm handsome?" he asked me, leaning close enough that his face was a few millimeters apart from mine. I looked at him and realized this was his lame attempt at flirting and used my index finger to push his forehead back.   
"I admit, you've got a pretty face Zen. But Luciel is still cuter to me." I said to him, not thinking before the words were out of my mouth, unable to take them back. I froze for a second realizing what I had just admitted. Thinking that maybe Zen realized what I was feeling, I looked at him in silence for a second. His face showed no signs of surprise.   
"Yeah, I know." he simply said, turning back and grabbing his mug.   
"You do????" I asked him, horrified. Oh my god. Was I that obvious?  
"Luciel isn't dumb but he is oblivious. But I knew by the fifth time we met."  
"How?????" I asked, grabbing his arm. He laughed.   
"It's not difficult to figure out, honestly. The way you look at him, the way you follow him. You follow his every order, you do know that, right?" he said to me. I blushed. Well, blushed more.   
"That doesn't mean anything, I would listen to all of you, I mean, my life is at stake here." I said.   
"That's not a lie but it's still bullshit. Do you normally follow orders?" he asked me. It suddenly hit me that Zen was pretty good at reading people.   
"...I don't actually." I answered honestly. Actually, now that I thought about it, I don't really take orders from anyone. Not even my parents. Mom and dad had certain expectations for me and I broke all of them. They wanted the perfect girl, long hair, natural hair color, beautiful, fair, over achieving. None of those things were me. I was small and rebellious, my hair had been every color of the rainbow, I went and got tattooed at 18, even my major was something they didn't agree with. All my life I had fought to fit in with people just to realize I was happy being myself.

 

"There we go. That's a crush for ya, my friend." he said nonchalantly.

Suddenly, I felt transparent. I mean if Zen knew, what if everyone else knew too? Including him.

"Do you think he notices I'm interested?" I asked Zen after a few moments of silence.   
"Like I said, he might not, only because he refuses to see it." he said.   
"I had a feeling that was it." I answered, the normal cheerfulness on my voice not there. Zen turned and put a hand on my shoulder.   
"Give him time, Akira. Luciel closes himself off because he's afraid of getting hurt by someone else. He loves us and helps protect us because he's running and that's an everyday thing for him, like a game. To him this is survival, but he's most afraid of people seeing what's really in his heart." he stated. I couldn't help but look at Zen in admiration. Real Zen was extremely observant, I realized. I couldn't believe my ears.

"Wow. Zen have you thought about being the next Dr. Phil?" I teased him, desperately trying not to ask more questions.  
"Dr. who??" he replied confusedly.

This could take some explaining to do.

What I didn't realize at that time was the pair of golden eyes nearby on another table, observing as Zen and I shared this intimate conversation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seven doesn't need to have a romantic place to be romantic btw. He doesn't have an ounce of it in his 5'7" tall body. It just comes naturally sometimes, I THINK. Anyway I don't know what happened. And the spot I'm mentioning about is an actual spot where those things HAVE happened. If you've never been to LA and you read this, be free! The truth is here!!!!!! (I reek of lame I should sleep and glue my hands together so I can never type again.) Zen in the game is just as nice and advice giving, except in my story, his advice is not paired up with complains. Much. OTL


	12. Be Mine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which food manners are important. Jumin drinks too much. JaeKira become besties (not really). Also ZenVenSung are idiots. Akira needs to not stand behind walls. And Zen steals all your fangirl hearts. Feelings part two. why.

Over the course of two weeks, as had been Jumin's plan, the entirety of my life revolved around 4 different hotel rooms and school.

Thankfully, they had been the same hotels and I wasn't forced to familiarize myself with a new place every night, as was actually Jumin's original plan. It was frustrating having to see where I was heading to everyday, but I was thankful they were . I had grown to really enjoy the presence of these four people.

But Luciel.  
Luciel's presence was addictive. He was this massive ball of uncontrollable energy, random facts, calls, the works, exactly like his character. He kept himself at a distance emotionally, but everything in between was alot of fun. He was easy to talk to, he was intelligent and sweet and also sadistic and mean, taking every chance he could to bother me. I knew I didn't have a chance with him, his attitude not changing and his platonic shield blocking any sign I could subtley send him. I'm not the kind of girl who begs a man for his attention, but I was a bit sad. I had always thought that if Seven Luciel Choi existed out there, that we'd be great together. Turns out it I wasn't wrong, but as just friends. Zen who had been so very sweet on the night we went for drinks, became a very sweet supporter of my feelings for Seven, but also not so subtley questioning my taste in men. We spent alot of time hanging around together after that night, finding his easy going personality very comforting. We had a few things in common which made it simple, so when he needed a tour, much to Yoosung's annoyance since it was him who had originally asked for tours around the area, I went with him.

"You lied though! First you told me it was your first time here, and then you said to Seven you had been here a couple of times..." I defended myself when he acused me of breaking our promise. Yoosung pouted in frustration.  
"I had only ever been here to see Rika a few times! But we never went anywhere, it all had to do with work and RYSING!" he defended his logic. Zen and I had gone to Hollywood boulevard, where the infamous walk of fame was. He boasted the entire time about his name was gonna be among the legendary names one day.  
"You're already famous though." I said as we walked side by side in the packed street. It was Saturday after all.  
"Ah, so you know of my fame?" he turned to me, a hand on his chin.  
"I meant, you're famous because of the game." I said back, laughing. His eyebrows forrowed.  
"That damn game! If Luciel ruins my career with it, I will kill him in his sleep." he said.  
"Did you ever finish?" I asked him, wondering if any of them bothered to do so.  
"I did but it got on my nerves. How did you even finish it? It's frustrating to keep looking at my phone." he said, taking out said phone and  
looking at it. I wasn't about to inform him of the bad endings and just assumed he uninstalled it.  
"Hey Aki, you never answered me. You got my route first. What happened? Did we marry? Did we have babies?" he asked as if it wasn't strange we were talking about a character based on himself. I snorted.  
"No, in your story, the main becomes your girlfriend and manager." I informed him. His eyes sparkled at the mention.  
"Ahhhh~~~~ That would be a really good idea! Say, Aki, you're not interested?" he asked me, grazing my arm with his. I hit him, hard.

"Noooooooooooooooopeeeeee~ Not a chance."  
"C'mon, it might be fun. I mean, you're a smart girl, I can get you back stage to my shows and all~" he said. I laughed, a disgusted look in my face.  
"No thanks~" I simply said, laughing, looking back and hoping to see a glimpse of red hair.

When I didn't, I sighed and turned back around, continuing on with my day.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxx

I'm not a picky eater at all, but I was a bit nervous, especially infront of CEO Corporate Jumin.

It was the same night of our tour outing, down town near the heart of the cluster of buildings. Jumin had asked if we would all like to have dinner together since we never had in the three months I had known them. I accepted, feeling a warmth in my heart knowing he bothered with such things, things I never imagined Jumin would want to have a casual dinner.

Casual was not the right word for it. According to Jumin's words, he asked he dressed fancy casual, just like most of the dinners with my sister. I opted for a simple black dress, as was my signature, but this time, I wore heels. I wasn't sure if it was too much, but upon arriving at the luxurious restaurant, I saw it appropriate, a black chain on my neck, Dark make-up and my hair undone. Jaehee and I went together, since I would be staying with her in the hotel that night. Zen automatically went for me.

"Akira, you're a babe! Look at that!" he asked, attempting to spin me around. I swatted his hand away.  
"I'm wearing heels right now which is the same as being armed, don't mess with me, Zen!" I said to him, making him laugh. In that same moment, Luciel arrived and my heart got caught in my throat. His hair was still partially the same messy bushel, but a slight parting and a successful attempt to comb it in place, it resembled V's a bit in shape, except the red locks shined with the few lights of the place. He wore a simple black button up dress shirt, black dress pants and shoes to match. We looked like a couple of goths, it was amazing. Gold cufflinks in his wrists, I saw as he removed said items and placed them in his pockets, his face scrunching uncomfortably. I walked over to him.  
"Why are you taking those off??" I asked him. He loosened up his, also black, tie.  
"It's too stuffy~~~~~~~~~ Jumin why did you want to come here??" he asked, his head turning towards Jumin's direction.  
"I asked around to see what would be a good place to have dinner and there were endless recommendations to this place." Jumin simply stated, a glass of wine in his hand. We all made our way around the table he sat in, Luciel next to me. I felt the heat of his leg near mine, and my mind went blank for a few seconds. He must've noticed and smiled at me for a second.  
"But Jumin, do you even like Ethiopeian food?" Luciel asked, the waiters bringing the food the second we were settled in. I was confused since no one had ordered anything.  
"I took the liberty of ordering for the table. Please enjoy it fully." he said, looking at me with admittedly a practiced smile. I smiled back, not knowing what I was doing. I mean.................. I didn't see any forks or knives. Luciel must have noticed my uneasiness and turned to me as the others talked among themselves.  
"Oohh~ Aki have you ever had Ethiopeian food??" he asked me. I blushed a bit, embarrassed I had to be taught something. I liked to consider myself somewhat adventurous when it came to food but this, this was brand new to me.  
"Y-Yeah. I've never had it before." I admitted shyly.  
"It's ok Akira, I've never had it either." Zen said, raising his hand slightly, as if to count himself in the crowd of people who didn't know.  
"Me neither, actually!" Yoosung said as well.  
"Actually, this is my first time as well." Jaehee admitted with no embarrassment.  
"Oh my goddddd~~~ I can't believe it~~~" Seven said, as if it were the most shocking thing.  
"How have _YOU_ eaten this before?? All I've ever seen you eat are those damn chips." Zen asked, annoyed.  
"Ethiopeian food is very simple to enjoy. Why don't you explain the basics, Luciel." Jumin said, signaling for the waiter to bring him more wine, which was code for Jumin not caring to demonstrate.  
"YES BOSS. OKKKKKKK~~~" he started going about grabbing a long tortilla looking thing in the table.  
"You can eat most of the food with this~ It's called Injera~~~" he said, going fully on teaching mode, completely exagerating. Zen looked obviously annoyed.  
"Just skip to the damn point!" he said, a fisted hand.  
"All hands. Use bread. Eat. Eat eat eat eat~" Seven said, grabing a bit of something that looked like spinach and rolling it up before putting it in his mouth. As he chewed, I guess everyone else decided to do the same, him finishing off his bite. I copied everything he did and saw as he picked up another piece of bread.  
"There's a really great tradition in Ethiopeian food called Gursha~ Wanna try it out, Aki?" Seven asked me. I was chewing so I just looked at him curiously, trying not to choke with the big piece of bread and the spicy thing that I think was lentils...?  
"What is it?" I asked after I was done, taking a sip from my water.  
"Gursha is very simple~~~ When you're a guest at someone's house, someone will prepare a bite of the food for you and feed you it, like a nice welcoming gesture~ It's very easy~" he said making a large bite. I looked at him, and at it, hoping he was making that for himself.  
"This isn't a house though, Seven. You don't need to make up weird traditions." Zen said.  
"It's not weird. Have some damn respect for another culture, uncultured Korean boy!" Seven said, Zen fuming instantly, and Seven turning to the rest. "So how it works is that you respectfully make a small bite for someone and feed them as welcome. The larger the bite, the closer you are to that person so like, if you take your boss you make them a proper tiny bite if you aren't close, but if they're something like your closest friend, you'd make like a giant fist sized bite and shove it down their throat!" Luciel said. I face palmed. I didn't know if he was making this up or not, but it all sounded like a lie. I was terrified watching that as he kept talking, I saw as he kept on adding to that bite in his hand.  
"Ah yes. It's not necessary to do it here since we're in a restaurant and not someones traditional home in Ethiopeia, but V and I had a welcoming experience with this once on a trip. It was very kind." Jumin said matter of factly. He looked so at ease eating with his hands. Luciel's face on the other hand looked as evil as they came, a giant pile of food in his palm before he turned to me.  
"Now come on Aki~ Say Ahhhhhhhhh~~~~~~" he said and I realized with horror that bite was, indeed made for me.  
"Are you crazy?! I'm gonna choke with that!" I said.  
"Whoa whoa whoaaaaaa!!!! Why do you get to do it???!" Zen said, quickly making a bite himself.  
"Yeah, who said you could do that?!" Yoosung stated, also making a bite. Oh my god.  
"You guys can feed eachother!" Seven said, glaring at them. Jumin face palmed so hard I think the rest of the restaurant heard it.  
"I think you guys should settle--" Jaehee started, her hands in the air.  
"Akira, come, I'll make it a small bite." Zen said, glaring at Seven, who glared just as horribly back, and then at Yoosung who was also glaring at both.  
"I really don't wann--" I said, afraid for my life. Or worse, my stomach.  
"C'MON AKIRA" Seven said. For the life of me I could not know what the hell snapped in these three but I realized I had to do something before I needed the Heimlich maneuver, quickly making a small bite and walking over and offering it to Jaehee.  
"Jaehee, let's be good friends ok???" I said, her eyes wide. The three boys looked absolutely horrified, Jumin's face amused as all hell.  
"Thank you, I'll try my best." she said, taking the bite offered.

Seven groaned.  
Zen nearly growled.  
And Yoosung whined.

All three of them forgot the point of Gursha.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

After a much calmer dinner, Jumin, true to his wine fanatic ways, took us to a roaring wine tasting. I don't really care for wine, so I just mostly sat there and watched, bored out of my mind. Jumin had found other wine enthusiasts and was chatting away in his business persona, while Jaehee seemed to be a bit light headed. She seemed to be a bit of a light-weight when it came to drinks so she stopped entirely and just tried to sober up naturally. Yoosung was at her side the whole time, making sure she would be fine. I had no clue where Seven and Zen had gone to, but they had been talking amicably after that whole fiasco with the food. It appears that after Jumin scolded them all properly for bad table manners, he swore if they ever did something so stupid again, he'd get them banned from coming the United States at all.

I was getting very sleepy, so I decided to walk around. This particular place was a bar in, you guess it, another hotel, but much livelier and with more varieties of people apart from rich snobs. I decided to make a much needed visit to the bathroom and after it, I saw a corridor of doors. It creeped me out, only the light from a few lighting up it's otherwise very dark path. As I was walking along trying to find my way back, I heard that familiar set of voices, the one that haunts my very dreams, along with the one with deep seduction written in it. I took a small peek, enough to know it was Zen and Seven sitting comfortably in chairs in a dim lit room. I didn't want to interrupt them so I turned on my heel away, but I heard something that I couldn't quite understand.

"Hey Seven, what's up with you lately?" Zen asked him, his voice still relaxed.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean with Akira. C'mon dude, you can't tell me you haven't noticed." Zen said. I felt that weird feeling at the pit of my stomach from anxiety. I could kill Zen. I could kill him that very moment. But I was curious. What had led to them talking about this??? About me??  
"Noticed what?" Seven said, my heart sinking. Was he blind, for real??????????? Zen scoffed loudly.  
"Ya, you don't have to play dumb with me. You know Akira likes you. I mean, how can you not?" Zen said casually. This was ridiculous. I felt a massive sense of betrayal. How is he talking about this, about my feelings for Seven TO Seven, as if he were talking about the weather?!??!?!?!  
"I don't see why you'd think that. We're just friends." Seven said. I couldn't stop my heart from breaking in two at those words. I knew, I had known for a while, but I guess a part of stupid me sort of still hoped.  
"Are you serious?" Zen asked with an incredulous tone.  
"Well, yeah, why would you think otherwise?" Seven asked monotonely. It was like he was deliberately stabbing daggers into my heart with his every word. I wanted to walk away, to not hear more, but I couldn't, suddenly sinking to the floor on my knees, silently so they wouldn't hear.  
"Wow. I can't believe it. And you're for real about this?? About what you're saying?"  
"Yeah~ Why?????? You interested in her or what?" Seven said, teasingly, casually, normally. I held back tears as he talked, but it was silent for a bit. Maybe Zen couldn't  
believe it either and as my wingman was thinking of what to say. But then he spoke.

"Yeah, I am." he said confidently. I looked up hearing his words.  
"W-What? Are you serious?" Seven asked, a bit of hesitation in his voice.  
"Yes. I'm very sure." Zen said again. I wasn't sure if this was a lie or not, suddenly feeling very warm all over at Zen's words.  
"I-- I don't know, are you sure?" Seven asked, almost as if he didn't believe what he was hearing.  
"Yes, I am. How can I not be? We've known Akira for a little while now after all. Honestly at first I didn't care much for her, despite how pretty she is, she was just some random girl." Zen started, his voice completely sincere. I panicked, not liking where he was going with this. "But the more I got to know her and see her, I couldn't help it. She's bright, beautiful, cheerful, ridiculously intelligent and fun. Confident, a girl that knows what she wants in life and isn't afraid of going for it no matter what anyone says. We don't have too many things in common but I can see why anyone would be interested in her. She's a diamond." Zen said. I blushed horribly, wishing desperately I hadn't heard this. This was the first confession I had ever gotten in which I over heard it instead of being confronted. Zen's sudden attempts to be around me, his invitations to look around, the few times I'd catch him looking my way. I thought I was just seeing things. I was wrong. In my heart, I hoped that this was all just a deliberate plan of Zens, that all his words were lies. I hoped that Luciel said something, anything. But he didn't, he said nothing right away, before Zen spoke again, breaking the silence.

"I thought I'd let you know about my feelings for her. You can lie to yourself and you can lie to her, but I know. I see you. I know you're always there when she's been with me. I know you're always around her when she's outside in general. You say it's for security, but I know you, you didn't do that for any of us." Zen said.  
"Actually, I did. For all of you..... Honestly." Seven finally said, his voice betraying him, "It's just different with Akira because she's not easy to fool. I really do try so she won't see me, but she's good at figuring things out. She's the one that noticed first when that guy attacked her, you know. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't seen her panic first. I'm a secret agent, but she's good, no, probably better than I am at reading people. The rest of you didn't know, but she always figures me out." he said. I face palmed to myself. God, I shouldn't be so suspicious after all.

"In regardless, I wanted to let you know in advance. I will give you some time to make up your mind about Akira. You met her first, after all. But after that, I'm going to attack. And if you don't make a move on her, I will." Zen said, his voice firm and decisive.

I waited, and waited, wishing that Luciel protested, wishing that maybe he realized that maybe, just maybe, he felt something for me too. I know he pushes me away, but I know he liked being around me. Maybe I was just hoping that was enough. I wasn't desperate for love, but I liked him so much, how could I deny my heart that feeling?

But he didn't.

All I heard was a mutter of "Ok." and that was the end of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where I'm going with this story anymore. Honestly, I'm lost/stuck and IDK when I'll get this done at this rate..................... OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL OTL I know Seven is a tsundere but in my story, he's annoying AF I know. I knowwwwwwwww............ I'm sorry my red headed love. *smooches and craddles* If I fucked up on any explanation regarding the lovely traditions of Ethiopeian food, please let me know and my uncultured ignorant butt will edit appropriately.


	13. Melancholia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Akira has more admirers than she knows. Seven is not jealous. (Or is he) Zen is invisible for once. Arguments. Feelings part 3. And We all see the obvious being stated. 
> 
> Blood. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooood.

"Where have you been lately?"

Sitting around in a coffee shop near school, a ball of my friends began doing what I was afraid they would: Interrogating.

"I've just been busy." I answered, sitting down comfortably in the couch placed near the window. My long haired blonde friend snorted.   
"Busy? You've been downright MIA. You missed everything we've planned!" she said.   
"No I haven't!" I protested back.   
"Yeah, you have actually." A friend with glasses said.   
"Like what?"   
"You've missed all of our 'girls night out' nights, for one."   
"I have an internship......"  
Or actually, my life is in danger so I have to spend my time divided in between four gorgeous people............  
"Yeah but you also missed our trip to Disneyland."   
Oh yeah.... I remember that one. The flashback of that day when Seven and I went to the mall to supposedly look for a gift and meowed at everyone who talked to us, including the cashiers.  
"I didn't mean to miss that."  
"And Six Flags"  
Ah.... that was the day Seven and I played pranks on Yoosung all day, following him around and calling his name from far away, until he swore he was hearing Rika's voice from beyond the grave.....  
"And that..."  
"Yeah well how about our trip to Napa Valley?"  
That was the week Seven and I went to every iHOP around the area, asking if they had honey butter chip flavored pancakes and making a scene when they obviously didn't. He even took out a thousand dollars in one dollar bills and flashed them at the staff when they demanded we leave, as if to say _'fine, if you don't want my money then.....'_  
"That I didn't even know about."  
"Well how about the day we were supposed to go to the APM Radio concert."  
Eek. That was the day Seven and I were stealing mannequins from a Forever 21 because we had a theory they had cameras in them and needed to dissect them..............   
"I didn't have a ticket for that one."  
"Well how about the day we planned going to the beach."  
...........That was the day that Seven woke me up at 3am just to go make some weird science experiment involving a weather balloon, a cat shelter and a GoPro camera so I over slept.

I felt bad. Because of RYSING, I was spending alot of time away from people who were important to me. But it was difficult to prioritize when on one hand there was my life and on the other was being social.

No, I take that back. It actually had to do with Seven, I couldn't deny that. I was spending _way_ too much time with him.   
Evidently friendzoned, instead of trying to forget about him like a normal person would do, everything remained the same. He still called me every night to give random facts, sent me messages with his random shenanigans. Of course, like he had been doing, he followed me. I still caught glimpses of his red hair, despite my efforts to stop searching for him. Turns out he's really just bad at hiding. Or maybe like he had said, I was just good at finding him. Nothing was different between us, except when Zen was around. Even though, from what I over heard him say, Zen was being very flirtatious with me, even more so than before. There were a few occasions when he'd go and wait for me after classes, and while he had done that a few times already, this time, he would bring something every time, like a flower, or a plush or something that was so cliche and cheesy. He would say it was because he saw it and thought _'cute girls should have cute things'_ which made everyone around watching squeal in cliche delight. It was mortifying, seeing Zen's embarrassed blushy face. I never thought this would be happening. But it hurt even more to see his sad expressions 1 when I refused every single thing he gave me.

But none of that could prepare me for the awkward today brought.

"Uhmm Hi-" he started.   
"Hi?" I said, confused. It was after the interrogation and everyone started going their separate ways. As I was putting my stuff away, I was approached casually by a great friend of mine. Skyler. He was sweet, blonde, tall, thin with a great brain.   
"You got a minute, Aki?" he said. I nodded and sat down again. He sat down next to me. I looked at him and waited to see what he wanted, confused. Skyler is never shy. He's outgoing and adventurous so it was strange seeing him like this. He wasn't fidgeting but his face looked a bit disturbed.   
"Are you alright?" I asked him seeing no signs of movement, or talking.   
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just- I mean I just wanted to talk to you." he said, his voice shaking a bit at the end. This was so strange. We had been friends for a long time, and he had never once acted like this. Suddenly, a horrified thought went through my head. What if he was being targeted? Skyler was part of my close friend group. What if they found out and were following him, or worse they threatened him or something? Feeling a wave of anxiety, I insisted.   
"You don't look fine. Please, tell me if there's something wrong." I said, turning fully to look at him. He turned to look at me before looking away.   
"Uh..... yeah just... give me a second.." he said. There was definitely something wrong. He took a big sigh and turned to look at me.   
"Akira, we've been friends for a long time right?" he asked. It was a dumb question, I thought, because of course he knew, we had been friends since elementary school.   
"Uh... yeah? Why? Did you forget or something?" I said laughing, trying to ease his nerves. His nerves refused to be eased though, his face still anxious.  
"Well. I've wanted to tell you something for a long time." he started. I raised an eyebrow.   
"Ok?"  
"Well um... y-you kno- you know how we've always sort of stuck together??" he said.   
".....Yeah, I guess so. I mean, we're friends, right?" I said. This was very confusing. It's like he was trying to reassure our friendship.   
"Well what about if we-- I mean.. what if we---- uh...."  
"Are you trying to remind me we're best friends? Aww, Sky, you know we are! Why would you doubt that?!" I said, patting him in the shoulder. He sighed heavily, exasperation evident.   
"Akira, I don't want to just be friends with you." he suddenly said, all that nervousness gone. I looked at him, wide-eyed.   
"What?"  
"Akira, will you go out with me? Please?" he said.

Goddamn it.

xXxXxXxXxXxX

"Eeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhh?????? WHO asked her out?" Zen said.   
"Her friend, this blonde dude." Seven answered as if being asked the time of the day. My face flared in embarrassment.   
"You were there????! How did I not notice?" I asked him. We were sitting down in Jaehee's hotel room, Seven and I sitting leisurely in her bed and Zen sitting in the chair by the window. The TV was on and completely forgotten. She was still out with Jumin, as his assistant of course she couldn't leave her side.   
"Probably because you were too busy with your new pretty-boy boyfriend." Seven said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.   
"He's not my boyfriend, idiot." I said to him.   
"Does that mean you said no?" Zen said, his eyes hopeful looking in my direction. I hadn't forgotten his words from that time, that conversation I wasn't supposed to know happened still fresh in my memory.  
"I told him I'd think about it, but I don't really see him that way.....I just don't know how to not hurt his feelings......" I answered pulling my legs up to rest my head on my knees.  
"That's my girl! Don't let em have you easily!" Zen said, winking at me.   
"It was so gross Zen! The guy was a stuttering mess!" Seven said, his nose wrinkling in disgust, a grossed out smile as if it was hilarious.   
"It wasn't! It was sweet! I just feel bad because I don't see us together." I said to him. Seven looked away, making a disinterested duck face.   
"If anything, I think you and Zen look better together." Seven said, a smile in his face. Even now, hearing him say that still blew holes into my already broken heart. It was difficult to play along, but seeing that he hadn't changed, I assumed he was completely sure of one thing.

He didn't have any feelings for me.

"Ah, you got that right. Aki and I would look great together~ The perfect fairy tale prince with his Rose of a princess~" Zen said, standing up and walking over to me, placing his hands on either side of me and looking straight into my eyes. I looked at him, tense. Zen was so forward and so obvious, it was difficult to ignore even if I didn't like him that way.   
"How about it? Wanna go out with me?" he said. Even now, I still didn't know whether he was serious or not. Sometimes it seemed serious, sometimes not. I took a glance at Seven, but saw he had turned away to look at the TV. I pushed Zen away by using my finger and poking him in the nose.   
"Sorry, Zen. But I already like someone else." I said, full knowledge of what those words meant. Seven took a quick glance before turning to me.   
"You should just accept Zen~ thousands of girls are dying to go out with him~" Seven said, laying down in the bed near my legs and looking up at me. I glared at him.  
"Yes, but like I said, I'm not interested." I said, talking to Seven.   
"Whoa.... still in the room." Zen said, miffed. Seven looked bewildered but he furrowed his eyebrows.   
"Well you should at least accept that guy who asked you out~ He's pretty cute right?" he said, standing up to face me a bit. I couldn't believe my ears.  
"Why are you so interested on who I date. Last time I checked, you were my friend, not my mom???" I asked, annoyed.   
"I'm not~ I'm just saying it- I mean, that guy, what a nice guy~ Totally went out of his way to tell you his feelings even though you obviously don't like him~" he said, his face sort of panicking for a second after those things came out of his mouth, as if he couldn't believe he had just said that. It didn't even make sense. I had no clue where he was going with this. It just sounded like he was jealous.

...........................Was he jealous??????   
My heart accelerated at the thought. Jealousy of course meant he was somewhat interested. I had to test the waters.   
"Yeah and so what?" I said, an angry tone to my voice obvious.  
"So nothing! Just go out with him!" he said, his expression angry, his tone mimicking mine.   
"Uh, guys? You might wanna--" Zen said, standing comically between us.   
"Why? Why do you care?? What's it to you?"  
"Because oohhh they have feelingsss~~~ Just go and be happy with him! God!" Seven said. I was so angry at him I could cry.   
"They? Who's they? And well, you know what? At least Skyler went out of his way to tell me how he feels instead of getting angry he doesn't have the guts to do it." I told him. Sevens eyes widened as he looked at me. I refused to waver and he narrowed his eyes at me before looking away, jumping out of the bed and putting his shoes on.  
"Well, you know what? Do whatever you want. I don't care anyway." he said to me, walking to the door and walking out.  
  
I was furious, my fists clenching looking at the door,   
"Akira...." I heard Zen's voice. But I was so angry, I had to ignore him.   
"That stupid jerk...." I said to no one in particular. Jaehee chose that moment to walk in, quickly catching the thick atmosphere in the room.   
"What's going on here?" she said, a hand in the door knob and her briefcase in hand.

Eventually Zen left and Jaehee and I had a quiet dinner together in the roof of the hotel. I picked at my food viciously, anger still in my veins. What a jerk he was. What a stupid jerk. I wasn't as angry as I seemed, I was just really hurt. It's almost like he's trying to get rid of me. So if he wants me to go with another guy then why did he seem to be so jealous? Where did that come from? In the game, his character was so obvious with his flirting, and eventhough he wasn't confident, he was flirty, unable to hold back his feelings for MC. But in reality, Seven was much pettier. Yes, he kept his fun and strange personality. But his attitude towards me was difficult. He pushed me away, his pushing was subtle but harsh. He wanted me to stop liking him. I knew that was what he was doing. After all of this, he still took Zen's words and was trying to push me towards Zen, while trying to kill all feelings I had for him.

"Akira, are you sure you're ok?" I heard Jaehee's voice snapping me back to reality.   
"Yeah, why do you ask?" I asked her, an awkward smile on my face. She pointed in my direction slightly with her knife.   
"Because you just about massacred that steak....." she stated. I looked down on my plate, looking at the mess I had made, meat cut up in tiny little pieces, everything completely unrecognizable. I sighed.   
"Sorry Jaehee. I'll have better table manners, I promise...." I said, deflatingly.   
"You don't have to. There's no call to impress here. I honestly don't care." she said, cutting up a bit of steak and putting it in her mouth. It was nice that real Jaehee ate. She deserved so much.   
"You're obviously angry. Tell me what happened." she demanded, not asked. I gave in and proceeded to tell her what happened in a short summary. I'm not one to tell a full on story but thankfully she got the gist of it.   
"I see. And where did he go?" she asked as they served dessert.  
"I don't know. And I don't care." I said, angry.   
"Well obviously you do because otherwise you wouldn't be so mad." she answered, sipping from her coffee.   
"Jaehee, I don't get it. Why is he acting this way?" I asked her.   
"Well, I think Luciel might be interested in you." she stated matter of factly.   
"But he's told Zen he's not interested in me. Strongly stressing the no interest." I retorted.   
"Luciel is playful and very strange, but he's very private. He doesn't have alot of people around him. Actually, none of us know much about him at all, really. All we know is that he's a Hacker for hire in some underground agency we can't know about, he doesn't have a solid place to live in so he lives off hotel rooms and that his real name isn't even Luciel, but Saeyoung." she said.  
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked her. I got the gist of where she was leading to.   
"So Luciel doesn't really know how to express his feelings since he's never had to. It might be that he thinks you're better off not being close to him." she said.

He's an idiot, doing such a predictable thing.   
"I got that much. He's doing what Seven does in the game, but different. He's not affectionate, he doesn't even show he cares. Apart from this little outburst, it didn't seem like he cared about me at all in any other way besides being friends." I said leaning back, rubbing my arms. It was getting colder.   
"He put this in his game? How interesting. I'm a bit curious. I should probably play it and see for myself." she stated, taking out her phone. I smirked.   
"In either case, give him some time. He doesn't know how to deal with this since he's used to pushing everyone away. You'll see." she said. The iconic 'Cheritz' coming from her phone. I sighed.

I guess that's all I could do.

After dinner, Jaehee and I went to our respective rooms. It was a beautiful night out, so I had stayed behind to look at the sky for a little bit. So much pollution and so much smog made it hard to truly see any stars but I loved it anyway. I made my way to my door on the small corridor, before I heard a few steps. Tensing up, I looked around to see if there was anyone around. Panic threw logic out the window and made me do something incredibly stupid.   
"Who's there?" I asked, giving away my own location, like a novice. In any movie, I would be dead already.

Instead, I felt the blood drain my face as I saw Seven approach me, a hand on his stomach, his face twisted in a pained expression.   
"Open the door Aki." he said once he was close enough, struggling. I grabbed him seeing as he was about to collapse, his head landing on my shoulder as I held him, his breath on my neck, heavy and unsteady, warmth enveloping my hand as I held his side.

There was so much blood staining his shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm too obsessed with Seven. I keep drawing him at work and I keep thinking of what to do. Ohhh and I'm almost done with this story I think! Just a little more I think. I'm still sorry I think. If you read this far, you deserve a bag of honey butter chips I think. 
> 
> Thank you if you've read this. I'm not really very creative but I like writing so OTL


	14. Lacrimi de Inger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hate you, I love youuu I hate that I want you, I hate that i can't puttt nobody else above youuuu~~ All the Honey Buddha chips if you know what that's from (that's not hard to figure out though so...)  
> In which I'm terrible at angst and arguments. Akira isn't a nurse but she tr i E d. Seven is still an asshole, in the game and real life. But at least they have eachother which is gross if you think about it. Feelings (The Revelation Edition). And Blood. Blooooooooooooooooood.

Struggling to open the door while holding on to Luciel, I grabbed the card out of my pocket and swiped it, shuffling quickly inside. He was sweating like crazy, his hand still in his stomach, obviously weak. I could feel the pulse on my neck, nervous as to what to do. I placed him on my bed, trying my best not to hurt him in the process, him complying with no other option whatever. My breathing was quick, mimicking his, panic starting to arise in me.

"아...위 가-- 아파요........"  
"I have to call 911." I said to neither of us in particular, aiming for the phone, and only reaching it enough before he quickly grabbed my hand, halting my movements.  
"...No....."  
"But you're bleeding so much..... I can't just let you die like this...." I said. He laughed, pain interlaced as he struggled to stop me.  
"I w-won't die. You can't call a-anyone.... they-- ah..... they ask questions. We can't a-answer them--" he told me struggling, "I'm not even supposed to e-exist, A-Akira...." he stated. My chest hurt, anxiety building up at seeing him hurting.  
"Are you listening to yourself??? You're gonna bleed out, none of that matters right now....please, Luciel....." I said to him, pulling his face to look at me. It hurt so much, to see his beautiful face distorted in pain. He breathed, looking at me, his eyes slightly narrowed.  
"You can't." He stated. I was about to say something more when I realized it was more important to take care of his injury first than to argue with him. Thankfully, I wasn't clueless. I mean, I'm no expert by any means but the cardinal rules of most injuries are similar. Then again, I had never dealt with so much blood......

Quickly leaving his bed side, I went to the Bathroom of the hotel. There was close to nothing there, towels being the only thing of actual use. I realized I would have to go get some things but I wasn't sure what, or where. I dashed for Luciel, his head resting in agony in the bed, staining the once white sheets with blood. My stomach churned horribly. I got on my knees next to him and made him stand up, removing his jacket and shirt. Injuries have always made me queasy. This one in particular was deep, a long cut along his left side. There wasn't much I could do but put pressure, placing the towels in the chair next to the window first. I walked over to the small kitchen, opening the faucet and running the sink in hot water, walking back and cleaning around the cut as much as I could.

"A-Ah...." he let out, hissing.  
"I'm sorry but I need to clean some of the blood first. " I let him know, nearly hyperventilating from stress. I grabbed the longest thin towel I could find before placing a smaller towel right on the injury, taking the long towel and wrapping it around his slender waist. He gasped. I applied as much pressure as was comfortable for him to not yelp out. I took the already soiled sheet of the bed and also folded then wrapped that around his middle. It seemed exaggerating, but I didn't know what else to do in the mean time I went to look for a Rite Aid, or Walgreens or something.

He was still sweating buckets so I wiped his forehead and attempted to keep him conscious.  
"Ok. There's not much here for me to use so I need to go out and buy some things." I said, again grabbing a hold of his face between my hands to force him to look at me. I removed his glasses.  
"Please, don't move. You need to stay sitting down so you won't make it worse. I'll be back." I said.  
"Aki.... it's too dangerous......" he huffed. What an idiot he was, worrying for me when he was hurt. I couldn't resist, so I kissed his forehead, a salty taste staying in my lips of his moisture. He was slightly cold. It worried me to death.  
"I don't care." I told him, walking away to grab my purse, before he could protest, dashing to the door and walking out.

I walked over to Jaehee's room and almost knocked in the door before I realized it would ensue some panic. I'm an idiot, too. I should just  
ignore him but he insisted no one could know so I walked away as quickly as I could.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxX 

"Luciel?" I asked him, his sleeping form in my bed. He didn't answer.

After several hours, we had managed to somewhat stop the bleeding. Once I had returned, I was happy to see he had listened and stayed sitting up right just like I had left him. He took control after I showed him everything I bought, which included Alcohol, gauze, bandages, Advil and I had managed to find a good First Aid Kit in general, one which included surgical thread and needles. He cleaned himself up, refusing my help in the process, used ice to numb his skin and sewed his own injury, even if his fingers shook as he did it. Even now, he still refused my help. He seemed like he knew what he was doing. After insisting he took double doses of the stronger of the pain medications I bought despite my warnings of the danger, he finally seemed to give up to exhaustion and fell asleep. I sat down, exhausted, looking at the clock in silence since  
then.

"I'll leave in a few hours. I'm sorry." he had told me, looking at me sitting in the chair.  
"You don't have to. You can't just walk out when you're hurt." I had protested.  
"I'll be fine. It wasn't that serious." he had said. I sighed while looking at him obviously not alright in my bed.

Slowly, I stood up, my back stiff from sitting down for hours. It was around three in the morning, so not only was no one else awake but there was nothing open for me to grab a coffee or anything of the like. I heard Luciel make a strange noise so I looked over once more. I called out to him again but was met with no replies. Instead I walked over and looked at him. The lamp light was on so I could clearly see his eyelashes touching his cheeks delicately, his red hair shining. How can someone like this exist? How is it possible? his hair was still wet at the ends from sweating so I reached over and grabbed it with my fingers. His was still soft. It was probably a mistake of my part to look at him like this when he didn't care for me, but I couldn't help myself looking at him. Looking at his soft skin and lips.

"What are you doing?" i heard his voice piercing the silence. I jumped back, startled, my face burning.  
"Nothing. I was just checking to see if you were alright." I answered even though I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my throat. He sat up with slight effort before reaching for his glasses.  
"I'm fine." he simply said. It was exasperating to see him being like this, all tight lipped and lying.  
"Ok. Fine. Sheesh." I said back, sitting back down on my seat. I turned away but I heard him sigh. It was silent between us so I thought he had gone back to sleep but he spoke again after a while.  
"Listen Akira. We need to talk about something." he said, his tone serious, unlike I had ever heard him before.  
"About what?" I said, crossing my arms and looking at him. His face was that same poker face.  
"I know what this looks like to you. I know you played my game so you think this is the same scenario because for some inexplicable reason, all of these coincidences seem to be replaying a weird dramatic fantasy my team came up with. But you should know that's not the case at all." he said. I had a feeling I knew where this was leading to. He was a secret agent, so I knew he already knew how I felt about him. It wasn't difficult to guess what he was doing.  
"What do you think is happening that's making you say this?"  
"Zen told me how.... you feel about me....." he said, his last words trailing off a bit. I still could kill Zen for this but I played dumb.  
"Feel about you? What are you talking about?"  
"In regardless of whether it's true or not, you should know that there's no way in hell that's happening." he stated definitively. Ouch. He couldn't have been more harsh if he had just laughed in my face. But I couldn't show him how much his words hurt me.  
"Don't worry about it. I honestly don't care about you that way. You don't have to worry about that." I told him, looking away.  
"You deserve to be happy with someone else, Akira. I'm not that kind of person you think I am."  
"And why do you get to decide that? Why do you get to decide what I think?" I asked him, anger in my tone. He was doing that again. Telling me what I should do and feel.  
"I don't. I'm just suggesting it, but honestly, it almost seems like you're too dumb to realize that." he said, annoyed.  
"Don't call me dumb. I know what I'm doing. If I had made the mistake of ever liking you, I still would suck it up and let you know, out of my own  
choice, you know. You don't get to decide that."  
"Ugh.... Why did I decide to come here? This was a mistake." he said, removing the sheets and standing up.  
"Luciel, don't be an idiot and go outside like that, c'mon you're injured."  
"Don't call me an idiot. You're the one that doesn't get to have a say on what happens."  
"Excuse me?"  
"God, I don't even know why I bother with you. It just makes me mad looking at you!" he told me, angry.  
"If I make you so angry, then why do you have to control everything I do?????" I asked him.  
"Because it's my job! Why do you have to meddle in things you shouldn't fuckin meddle in??!" He asked me. This was getting out of hand but I  
couldn't stop. It was word vomit, what we were both saying.  
"Because I fuckin care about you, you fuckin idiot!" I said to him.  
"Well I don't care about you! I hate looking at you! I hate seeing you! I fuckin hate that you came and ruined everything! I wish I had never met  
you!!" he said, walking towards me and yelling. I couldn't believe what he just said, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. I didn't know what to  
say. He hates me. He absolutely hates me. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of seeing me break, I looked away and walked towards the chair and grabbed my sweater. He didn't move from the spot he had been standing on so I walked past him towards the door.

"I didn't mean to ruin your life, Saeyoung." I told him, holding back the sobs and tears I wanted to let out, opening the door and walking out.

As I walked away, I heard a harsh sound coming from inside the room, but I walked away, finally letting myself cry once I reached the stairs.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Akira, you sure you're alright?" Jaehee asked me, sipping her coffee.

It was another early breakfast. Unlike the other times I complained about Jaehee waking up too early for it to be normal, I was happy to know she'd be there bright and early at six in the morning. After what happened in my room, I wondered around the area, it was entirely empty, give or take a few rare cars driving by. It didn't even matter that I kept walking around in circles, Luciels words kept coming back to me the whole time.

He had told me I ruined everything? That he wished he hadn't met me?  
I sighed, his words had hurt so much. I wanted to tell myself he was just pushing me away, but this wasn't the game. I couldn't know it was that. Instead, it appears he was really angry for real. He said he hated seeing me. It confused me. I thought we had fun together. Maybe I was just being delusional after all, thinking that he really was just like the Seven in the game. He said so, he told me I shouldn't confuse a game for reality. I guess in a way he was right.

But he had been so cruel. I never thought he'd say what he said.  
His words stung so much but I would never admit it.

I felt like an idiot, for letting myself fall for him. It had been so comfortable, implying he was just like I had pictured him, just like his character in the game, but he was different. Even if his personality was the same, his real feelings were different.

Why did I let myself fall for him in the end?

I had just started contemplating what to do when I realized I had ended up right back in the hotel lobby. I had waited for Jaehee to come down and once again we ended up at breakfast.

"I'm ok, but I think I might be a little sick. Maybe I'll just stay here until I have to go with Jumin tonight." I said, trying to sound as normal as  
possible.  
"That would be a wise idea." she stated, looking at her iPad. "By the way, Akira, did you hear the ruckus last night?" she asked me. I knew she was probably referring to what happened in the room, I mean, we were awfully loud.  
"I didn't. Why? What happened?" I lied.  
"I'm not sure, it sounded like someone was actively trying to destroy the wall. It was very loud, I had to call the hotel staff about it." she said. I stiffened. But just as quickly let myself relax. I shouldn't give a crap about what happens to him. I shouldn't care whether they caught him or not in my room.  
"Ah.... That was a good call Jaehee." I told her, taking a sip from my own coffee. She glanced at her watch.  
"In either case if you have any problems, let me know and I will arrange things accordingly." she stated. I was exhausted but I couldn't go back to my own room.  
"Actually, Jaehee. Do you think I could stay in your room? I feel more comfortable there than my own." I said to her. She looked at me, worry in her eyes, before she smiled.  
"Of course. You don't look like you've had a good nights sleep. Try and rest alot today, alright?" she told me, walking past me and placing her hand on my shoulder affectionately.  
"You're the best person who has walked the earth."  
"I am, aren't I?" she said, both of us laughing.

I dragged my feet towards Jaehee's room, my heart beating anxiously. I glanced at my door as if he would open it any second. Sighing, I swiped the card she had left with me and opened the door to Jaehee's room, glancing around and crashing down on her neatly made bed. I felt dizzy, the lack of sleep affecting me before closing my eyes and drifting off to a dreamless sleep.

I was making myself extremely comfortable, and after a few black hours of sleep, I wasn't as sleepy any longer but deciding it best if I kept my eyes closed just to have some comfort of rest before I remembered the love of my life hated me. I turned towards the window to glance outside, it was light out still so I had some time before I had to head off.

Suddenly I heard the knob on the door move. I stiffened. Was it Jaehee? No, she told me she'd call.  
Another movement. The doors were very secure so no one out of the ordinary could come in.  
A third movement and I heard a voice mumble something, too silent to be recognizeable. Maybe it was one of the men after us? How did they find this room? Then again I was walking alone at night so once again, it could be my fault.

Maybe he's right in hating me after all. I would hate me too. All I ever do is fuck things up. 

By the fourth time, I saw the door unlock, making me gasp silently, but I caught a glimpse of red hair. It was Seven.  
I wasn't ready to face him, so while I could, I turned away and went back to my slumber, closing my eyes and pretending his presence hadn't woken me up. But my stomach churned in anxiety at knowing he was there. I wasn't about to confront him again, not after all of that. Everything after that was all just feeling. I felt him look at me, burning a hole in my back. I heard him sigh, it almost sounded like relief, but this was the same person who had told me several hours previous he didn't care at all about me, so I discarded that thought.  
"There you are...." he said silently. I was confused. I heard his steps, so I closed my eyes shut, resisting with all hell to open them to see what was the purpose of him being here. He walked over to the side I was facing, his eyes burning my skin. I had no clue what to do so I stayed still and made the best show I could of a person in deep sleep even though I felt my hands shake internally.  
"I'm so glad you're fine....." he said silently, as if trying not to wake me up.  
"You're such a dumb girl. Why would you walk out in the middle of the night?" he asked me, as if I could hear him. I could, but he didn't have to know that.  
"You don't know in what kind of danger you could've gotten into. I would have never forgiven myself if anything happened to you." he said, his voice gentle. This was a strange turn of events. He stayed silent for a few seconds. I didn't know what he was doing, since my eyes were closed, but I could feel him looking at me. Suddenly, I felt something touch my cheek. I realized it was his hand, his long fingers delicately stroking my skin.  
"I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to say any of those things. But you can't mean anything to me." He said, pain in his voice.  
"This isn't about whether you're in danger or not. I just....... never thought I'd meet someone like you. Why? Why now?" he asked, more to no one but in general.  
"You're such a dumb girl...." he said again, his fingers burning my skin.  
"You can never know how I feel. How I look forward to seeing you again every time I have to leave you in these places. I hate seeing sadness in your eyes. I hate knowing I hurt you..... but you're so stubborn. You're worse than the MC I created for myself. A dumb but gentle girl who goes along with what I say. That was my ideal girl. The girl who would accept me and follow me, the gentle perfect girl who wouldn't question what I do. You're worse. You're fire. You question everything I do in a different way. You take the lead of my idiocy. You fight back to everything I tell you. I can't control you at all. I didn't want to feel anything for you, but...... the more I knew you, the more we got to be together, I couldn't stop. Zen was right about what he said about you. I know he was sincere. I know he was saying it to help you, to help me, but he's not lying. He's in love with you and I can't stand that...... he's so much better for you than I can be. I don't deserve to have someone like you by my side...." his voice whispered harshly. My heart was threatening to break my rib cage at this point at his confession. I could feel the tips of my ears heat up, almost hearing my pulse in my ears, forcing myself to keep my hearing sharp. This couldn't be a fantasy right? I wasn't still asleep? 

"But you can never know..... You can't ever know that I'd kill for you to love me too...." he said. I felt the air move slightly, the brush of his hair near my face and I could hear his soft breathing and that's when I realized how close he was, his lips so close to mine. I felt like I would spontaneously combust.

"You can't know I'm in love with you. Not when you're awake." he stated. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. I'm terrible at feelings tbh. I don't know what to say besides sorry. 
> 
> Please don't laugh at my attempts at romance. I'm not a romantic so I was heavily inspired by either someone's beautifully written fanfics or Mexican Novelas because why not, Maria. Why not?? -bricked-
> 
> Lacrimi de Inger means "Tears of an Angel" in Romanian I believe. Let me know how wrong I am if you speak it and yeah....


	15. White Noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which nothing gets done. Seven is awkward. Akira is an asshole. Maids. Jumin is still your father. And the beginning of the end.

If awkwardness could be described in words, it would look alot like Seven and I in a room together. 

Hell, the way I see it, it would probably be the literal physical description of it.

Seven was sitting down in the bed of my hotel room.   
I was sitting in the chair near the window, like we had been before we had that explosive conversation.

It had been this way for a while now. I was trying my damnest not to look at him, failing miserably by taking too many glances in his direction, half-assedly pretending I wasn't doing that. He, on the other hand, was calmly looking at nothing in particular, not once looking at me, an awkwardness in his face I don't think I've ever seen.

It was silent, with only the ticking of the clock in the wall reminding me we weren't both deaf.

After Seven's confession in Jaehee's room, he walked away with a frustrated sigh and left. I had stood up so fast, I got dizzy, but I couldn't control myself. I looked at the door where he had walked out on and blushed.

He loved me.

He loved me.

Those were the only words that kept ringing in my head.

HE.   
LOVED.   
ME.

_ME._

I couldn't believe it.

The way he said it was so painful, so sad, so full of despair, exactly as what one would assume game Seven would say and do. I put a hand to my face and realized it was hot, the flush unwilling to disappear. There were a million questions in my head but none of them coherent enough to be asked or acknowledged. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't just march up to him and let him know I had heard everything he had said. But I hate the thought of having to pretend I didn't know either. it was conflicting. In my head there was a weird realization. I've never been in love before. It was as if everything was in black in white for so long and now, everything was colorful. It was thrilling, but also very, very scary. I felt like I couldn't breathe, deciding it was a good idea to leave the room. It was almost time for Jaehee to arrive in order for me to go to the   
next hotel anyway.

I pulled myself together and out the room, down the elevator and out of to the lobby, eventually wondering outside trying to find a cafe. It was difficult to think in general. After I got my coffee I returned. All my moves were robotic. Everything I was doing I was doing it in auto pilot, a terrible habit I have when I'm under ridiculous amounts of stress or anxiety.

What do I do if I see him?

"You." I heard. I stiffened, recognizing that voice. I guess I didn't have to continue to wonder, half cursing my luck. I turned around and saw Seven standing there, awkwardly as if trying to avoid putting too much pressure on the side he was injured and not wearing his glasses. He was still sweating which meant he was still having difficulty with the injury. It took all my self control not to blush in front of him. Autopilot decided for me and chose the cowards way out in the end.

"I'm not you. What are you doing here?" I asked him. He looked awkward automatically. There was definitely something different about this. Normally his face would look mad, annoyed, or indifferent.  
"I-I've been looking for you everywhere. Where did you go? Don't you see how dangerous it is?" he said. He stuttered. Seeing him like this made me feel strangely ok, as if my ability to stay calm was superior to his. I know it's a bit fucked up to think about in that way, but it was true."I've been here the whole time. You guys took my car away. Where else would I go?" I asked him calmly. This time he got annoyed, his eyebrows furrowed.  
"C'mon. You have to stay where I could watch you." he said to me, turning around and walking slightly, as normal as possible in the state he was in. I felt bad even though I know I shouldn't, so instead of saying what I really wanted to say (or bother him like I really wanted to) I just went along behind him.

And so here we are, an hour later, in that same state of him just sitting about and making me sit with him to "watch me" or whatever this was. It was too much. He dragged me in here and wasn't even saying anything. I had to break the silence.

"What are we gonna tell Jaehee when she gets here and sees you like that in my bed?" I asked him. He looked down at himself and frowned at his injury.   
"I don't know. We probably won't have to say anything. I'll leave in a little bit." he said monotonely. This was getting ridiculous. He was still being like that, it was actually kind of annoying. I sighed.   
"If you were just gonna leave, why did you drag me back in this room with you?" I asked him, crossing my arms and looking directly at him. This time he couldn't hide it. I saw his face flush bright red after giving me one friggen glance. Just one. It was so cute. So, so, so cute. Maybe the reality of what he told me was starting to hit him. Maybe he was getting suspicious I knew. Or....... maybe he was just embarrassed.   
"I told you I'm in charge of security. It's only natural for me to continue watching over you." he stated as if it was that simple.

My god. How much more frustrating can one person be.   
I sighed heavily.   
"I can take care of myself, you know. Besides, these last few days, I've been fine, while you, oh great God Seven, where the one that got hurt.   
That's more worrisome to me than my own safety, you know." I said to him honestly. It appeared he didn't know what to say so he didn't for a few seconds.   
"I also wanted to.... uh..... to say I'm s-sorry....... for all those mean things I said. I was just really frustrated. I didn't mean to take out all of that on you." he told me, looking down. I was surprised he'd say that, me staring at him calmly. He refused to look at me at all, his eyes narrowed and him looking at his hands. It dawned on me that it was difficult for him to express himself because, as Jaehee said, real Seven is probably just as closed off emotionally as game Seven. I decided not to give him a harder time despite how big of an asshole he had been. But I knew he was lying now, it was different.   
"I know. It's ok. I'm sorry I left." I told him, standing up and walking over to him. He turned up and looked at me, his face flushed slightly. I didn't know if that blush was out of embarrassment or because our proximity was closer now, but I could definitely get used to his flushing face. He smiled slightly.   
"Thank you....gah...... I didn't even say thank you yesterday for helping me with this." he said, patting his patched up wound.   
"That's fine too~ Chill out, Seven. It's not like you to take things so seriously." I told him, trying my damnest to be cheerful. It's so difficult to be the cheerful cliche girl. But that's what Seven needed right now so I sucked it up. I was about to continue doing that cheerful act, when I suddenly had a hilarious idea. He reached for his glasses in the table and looked up at me. There was an evil smirk on my face, I was sure of it.   
"......What?"  
"I will completely forgive you in one condition." I told him.  
"..................I don't like where this is going."   
"Seven, you like coffee right?" I told him, giving him my best imitation of an eye smile.

He visibly gulped.   
  


xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

There were so many Sevens.

And so many Zens.

There were alot of Jaehee's too, I guess it was popular.

Jumi's, a few dared to try.

Yoosung was difficult so there weren't as many.

But there were _sooooooooooooo_ many Sevens.

I had a mischievous smile on my face, looking at Seven's horrified face at the scenary before us, a ridiculously long line of people queueing.

"Y-YOU DRAGGED ME OUT OF MY COMFY BED FOR THIS!?!?!?" he nearly screamed at me.   
"Actually, I dragged you out of _my_ comfy bed for this~ C'mon, it'll be fun!" I told him.

There was an event around the area a friends cafe was running. It was a maid cafe, actually, but they were keen on making themed days and so today, they chose Mystic Messenger as their theme. I had actually seen this just recently and though I was tempted and excited at first glance, I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to come without supervision, so this worked fine just for me.

Even more so, I got to see Seven's mortified face.   
He deserves this for being an asshole in the first place.   
I know I said I wouldn't give him a hard time, but it was too damn easy to pass up.

As we were seated in a table near the window, I noticed people started to stare. At Seven, obviously. He wasn't wearing his favorite Hoodie, the black one with the yellow stripes like his character. He was actually wearing a white button up shirt we managed to find (or actually managed to steal) in the hotel. But he had the hair, he had the look, it was unmistakably him. I smiled to myself seeing this scenario unfold. It was hilarious to come to a place full of cosplayers, unbeknownst to them that the real thing was sitting among them, like finding an actual diamond in a pile of cubic zarconias.

"Ehhhhhhhhh............. this isn't half bad actually~" he said to me, looking around.   
"I had my eye on it for a while. Besides, it's fun, combining two of my favorite things." I said to him as a waitress cosplaying as Jumin left some water in the table for us. I saw as she gave him the look over.   
"You make a really good Seven!" she said to him amicably.   
"Thanks~ He's my absolute favorite, isn't he the dreamiest????" he said to her. I choked back my laugh, snorting loudly.   
"Oh my god yes! He's a great character! Did you finish his route yet? Honestly, you look just like him! You're pretty convincing!" she said to him.   
"Of course I did~~~~~~ Thank you~ I try~~~ You make a pretty cute Jumin too~" Seven said. My eyebrow twitched. The waitress left and he turned around the room.

"You're enjoying the attention aren't you...?" I asked him.   
"What can I say? I told you I get praised for my convincing cosplay often~" he said, looking at the table of girls next to us, doing something disgusting, something that I was sure only Zen would do at one point but realized all these assholes liked doing. HE WINKED AT THEM.

"Yep, you're definitely enjoying this." I said outloud to mostly myself.   
"Nope. Not yet. C'mon, let's go." he said standing up. He was so serious suddenly.  
".................Why?"  
It was his turn to smile mischievously.

Thirty minutes later we returned to the cafe.   
This time, both of us were cosplaying.   
As Seven's maid cosplay, no less.   
I have no idea at what point this became an actual thing that happened, because I remember flat out telling him to go fuck himself and he on the other hand told me if I didn't dress myself, he'd do it for me. So here we are, standing in line, trying to go back into a place we were already sitting down in.   
"Ahhhh~~ isn't the skirt nice and breezy??????" he asked, turning around. He had the whole enchilada. The long red hair, the shoes, everything. And disgustingly so did I.   
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to murder you in your sleep. I'm going to throw your corpse into the LA river so the fish can eat you. I'm going to set the river on fire and hope that obliterate all the fish and any other signs you really were ever alive." I said to him, angry. I hate the concept of maids. I hate being dressed as a maid. I hate it with a burning passion. I can't believe this was my life. But my threats and anger did nothing to bring his spirits down about his maid cosplay. He was in cloud nine and refused to come down. He was the belle of the ball.   
"Ah C'mon Akira~~~ Live a little! You look very cute~~~~~~~~~~~" he said cheerfully. It was as if nothing hurt, as if he wasn't injured.   
"Oh my god, your cosplay is so cute!" we heard from behind us, a group of girls obviously taking in how he looked.   
"Thanks! We're twin sisters, right Akira???" he said to them, putting a hand over my shoulders.   
"Yeah..... yay......." I said deflatedly.   
"Can we take your picture???"  
"Oh, me too please!"  
"You guys are so cute~"

It went on like that the entire time we were there.   
Eventually when we ended up inside again, Seven was surrounded, girls taking pictures, posing with him. It was very anime expo except there was apparently only one cosplayer they all liked, and he was happy to oblige to all the requests. I was beginning to think that he the true narcissist was really Seven, and that Zen's persona in the game was more a reflection of him instead of real Zen. I sat back and watched as he talked and joked and laughed with the girls and the occasional boy here in there. I smiled. He seemed happier than earlier so I sipped my tea and waited for him to have his fill in the spotlight.

It was actually sort of annoying to watch all these people fawn over him.   
I'm not the jealous type of girl, if anything, I'm not really a jealous girl at all.   
But i had to admit it was a bit troubling to witness. I guess this is what liking someone at all means.

Suddenly, I heard Seven gasp. He had been doing god knows what, but it involved moving alot. My head shot up automatically and saw him clutching his side. There were concerned whispers and words from alot of people around as he looked like he was in pain.   
"I-I'm ok...... I just got a bit of pain here. I'll be fine though~ Should probably sit though." he stated, looking over at me. I stood up and walked over to him, quickly dragging him away.

"This is what you get for getting carried away......"   
"I know, I know aghhhh~~~~............" he whined.   
There was blood in his dress.   
______________________________________  
"What in the hell were you thinking, hiding something like this from us?"

Jumin had his arms crossed, glaring down at Seven, who was once again laying down in my hotel room at Jaehee's Hotel.   
"I wasn't thinking, I guess. But I really didn't think it would be too bad, i've had worse injuries. You know that, Jumin." Seven said to him.   
"Your wound might've been sewed up and patched but you needed to get it checked. Have you forgotten basic care or is your brain deteriorating on purpose?" Jumin scolded him. I almost felt bad for Seven. Almost. I knew we should've told someone, anyone, about that.

"I know. I thought it wouldn't get this bad though. I was careless." he said, closing his eyes and wincing.   
"I told you we should've called someone." I said to Seven, and he opened his eyes a bit, looking at me.  
"Ok, I'd really appreciate saving the I told you so's for another time, Aki....." he said.   
"Akira, you should've said something." Jumin told me, looking at me with that same scolding face.   
"I tried but.... Seven didn't let me. He said they ask questions......." I replied, feeling like a child who's in trouble at school with the scary   
principal.

"Snitch~~~!!!"  
"I will call a private doctor immediately. Akira, you prepare your things. You're coming with me today." Jumin said, about to turn away when   
Seven spoke again.   
"Jumin, I don't think it's a good idea to have Akira go with you today. In fact, I think this whole moving around hotels thing needs to stop." he said, sitting up slightly. I walked over, urging him to rest back down, but he just held on to my arm.

"Why is that?" Jumin asked halting his movements.   
"Because it's of no use. They know where to find her. They attacked me for that purpose. They're aware of where she'll be. Even if you changed the pattern, they know. They're not after her. They're after us. It doesn't make a difference to them if they get her or not, she's just bait to them. But with moving her around between your hotels, it's only led them to all of you. You, Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee. You're in more danger than Akira now." Luciel told him. Jumin stared at him, as if silently examining his words.

"What do you propose we do, Luciel? Even if we stop moving her, it would be just as bad if she stays stationary." Jumin stated.   
"I know. Which is the reason why I think it would be the best idea for her to come with me now." Seven told him seriously.

"How would that be better? It would only lead them to you too." Jumin asked him.  
"I'm staying in a very different place than all of you. She'll be safe. You all need to change places. Your deal is almost over right? It's already been five months over the amount we were supposed to stay here." Seven said. I realized from his words that in the amount of time we've been spending together everyday, they were supposed to stay only four months but it had already been nine months of knowing them all, of all this movement, of being away from my family. It was easy to forget since I was so infatuated with him, but in reality, it had been a while away from my every day life.   
"Yes, we only have one more thing to approve and we'll be heading back to Korea for good." Jumin said out loud, the last bit more to himself. He looked up at Seven.   
"Alright. I'll have Assistant Kang and the others pack up and make reservations for us to stay in the same hotel. You'll take care of Akira then. Should I leave bodyguards with you?" he asked him.   
"No, we won't need them. It's better if there are less people around. It would be too flashy." he told him.

It was strange. I wanted to say something since obviously my life was involved but they looked so serious and concerned, I didn't think it was a good idea. I didn't feel like it was neccesary to guard me. Like Seven had said, it wasn't me they were after, they were after them. Jumin and Luciel continued talking for a few more minutes about what to do before agreeing to meet up at the new place he and the others would stay at after they were done. When he was gone, I sat in the bed with Seven. The words kept coming back to my head the second after I heard them. Luciel noticed my uneasiness, staring at me silently as I looked to the ground, those damn words circling around in my head.

Automatically, my head began playing at the worse fear I have in life.   
"Aki? What's wrong?" I heard him say, making me turn to look at him. He was so beautiful. I couldn't believe someone like this could exist. And that made me so very sad, as I pictured in my head an hourglass, counting down and poking at a new wound in my brain. 

Until when will I be able to see him like this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Maid Cafe MM themed day is an actual thing that's gonna happen~ And it really is a friend of Akira's~ I wish I could go >u< Anywho I know this is a terrible chapter, I had no inspiration, pretty sure it shows, but I'm almost done with this story and this boring chapter is neccessary I guess OTL I'm sorry. I'm soooorryyyyyyy OTL Happy Halloween~


End file.
